Walking around Essex

Where to next?

Having got a taste for long distance walking but unwilling to put too much effort into it, I decided to walk around the land borders of Essex, from Purfleet to Manningtree, like before, but in a clockwise direction. The aim will be to do linear walks using footpaths, byways and towpaths wherever possible, travelling on public transport. I'm going to try to keep within a mile off the border, on the Essex side of course.

Essex has quite a few long distance footpaths that I hope to use; London Loop, Three Forests Way, Lee Valley Walk, Stort Valley Way, Harcamlow Way, Stour Valley Path, St Edmunds Way, and the Essex Way.

Essex has land borders with Greater London, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex and the walk will go through eight districts, Thurrock, Brentwood, Epping Forest, Harlow, Uttlesford, Braintree, Colchester and Tendring. The border is about 150 miles and for ease of planning, I've split up the route into 18 sections. I hope to reach the sluice on the Stour sometime next summer.

Sections
1. Thurrock (bordering Havering, Greater London) 12.7 mls
2. Brentwood (bordering Havering, Greater London) 8.75 mls
3. Epping Forest A (bordering Havering, Greater London) 2.9 mls
4. Epping Forest B (bordering Redbridge, Greater London) 7.75 mls
5. Epping Forest C (bordering Waltham Forest Gtr London) 2.7 mls
6. Epping Forest D (bordering Enfield, Greater London) 2.45 mls
7. Epping Forest E (bordering Broxbourne, Hertfordshire) 7 mls
8. Epping Forest F1 (bordering East Herts, Hertfordshire) 2.4 mls
9. Harlow (bordering East Herts, Hertfordshire) 4.6 mls
10. Epping Forest F2 (bordering East Herts, Hertfordshire) 3 mls
11. Uttlesford A (bordering East Herts, Hertfordshire) 19.6 mls
12. Uttlesford B (bordering North Herts, Hertfordshire) 1.65mls
13. Uttlesford C (bordering South Cambs, Cambridgeshire) 24 mls
14. Braintree A (bordering South Cambs, Cambridgeshire) 2.76 mls
15. Braintree B (bordering St Edmundsbury, Suffolk) 16.9 mls
16. Braintree C (bordering Babergh, Suffolk) 16.5 mls
17. Colchester (bordering Babergh, Suffolk) 14.3 mls
18. Tendring (bordering Babergh Suffolk) 1.92 mls