Day 147 – Canvey Island Sea Front to Pitsea: 11.8m: 4.3h

We reconvene in the hotel car park shortly before 7:30. The reception desk is closed and the door to it is locked but, having already paid for our rooms, drinks and supper, no check out admin is required other than to leave our keys in a box on the outside wall. As we walk along the street leading back to the leisure park, one of the few establishments which seems to be open is a Greggs, but we decide not to investigate its takeaway breakfast offerings in anticipation of finding somewhere on the esplanade which we reach at 7:50. However, as we resume our journey alongside the Thames, this prospect quickly becomes more and more remote. After not much more than 10 minutes, the limited retail outlets around the park have disappeared and we’re into a completely residential area and, 15 minutes or so later, we’re beyond the houses and walking past a series of what appear to be gas and oil storage depots. When we reach the end of this stretch after another 45 minutes and turn north, it’s too early for the Lobster Smack pub on the south west corner of the island to be open. Comfort has to be derived from the fact that our purchase of crab sandwiches yesterday has left us pretty well stocked with fruit, chocolate and cereal bars and, for reasons which are not immediately apparent, we convince ourselves that, after leaving Canvey, we might find a café in Benfleet. For now, we continue along a grass bank into an area of open countryside (the scenery on Canvey has been varied if nothing else). We’re not completely sure of the route we’ll take to get across the various creeks and inlets which run round and through this part of the island. One possible creek crossing proves to be a locked sluice gate and, a little way further on, there’s no path up from the grass bank to a road which crosses another creek. Two of us decide somewhat more quickly than the third that we’re not going to investigate less conventional ways of trying to make the ascent! Instead, we walk under the road and keep going along the grass bank, before eventually turning east and reaching the road over Hadleigh Ray which brought us onto Canvey yesterday. Back on the north side of Hadleigh Ray, it isn’t too long before we reach Benfleet station. However, as this isn’t a particularly major point on the rail network, it is perhaps not surprising that it doesn’t feature anywhere selling something akin to breakfast food, but a sign pointing towards a short tunnel under the railway line indicates that there’s a café at the other end. Our raised hopes are quickly dashed. The café is closed and, to all outward appearances, it’s a permanent closure. None of us experiences (or admits to doing so) a mirage of Greggs, but several comments are made about the folly of foregoing its delights 3 hours earlier. We return to the road on the other side of the station which, after a couple of hundred yards, bends to the right at a path which takes us into some fields. We walk through the fields along a track which soon curves to the south and follows the west side of the creek to the road which we walked under on the east side about 90 minutes ago. Again, we walk under the road and then turn right to continue on paths through some more fields towards Pitsea. Our pace increases on the final stretch which runs along the north side of the railway line leading to Pitsea station. John has worked out that, if we manage to catch the 12:21 train, we’ll be back in London sufficiently early for him to get across to Paddington at a time when there are 3 services to Kingham in the space of 1 hour. A later departure from Pitsea risks him missing the last of these trains and having to wait at Paddington for up to an hour for the next one. On such important considerations is the admin of the round England walk conducted. Anyway, our acceleration has the desired effect. We catch the 12:21 which arrives just after 1 o’clock at Fenchurch Street from where Ben and Gary catch their tube trains home, and John gets to Paddington shortly before the departure of a train which results in him getting home at 3:45 which he subsequently pronounces to be “the earliest ever by a long way”. This marks the end of our 2021 walks. We’ve made 7 trips and completed 205 miles which, given the restrictions which were in force earlier in the year, is perhaps more than we could have anticipated. And, shortly after this trip, we hear that Mike’s consultant has given him the green light to resume the walk next year. So here’s looking forward to February 2022….hopefully.

Day 146 – Southend-on-Sea to Canvey Island Sea Front: 16.2m: 5.8h

Once again, Mike and David don’t make the starting grid. Mike is due to be seeing his consultant this week and, according to John, David might be doing something called work. Ben and Gary catch the 8:32 from Liverpool Street which John joins at Shenfield (having been at his father’s over the weekend) for the rest of the journey to Southend Victoria. Our walk back to the pier takes us past The Last Post, but we’re not tempted to check whether the bar there has indeed opened at 9 o’clock. We take the steps back down to the esplanade (the lift doesn’t seem to be operational in any event) and set off westwards just before 10 o’clock. We are, in fact, accompanied by a new – or replacement – member of the team, namely the book in which Ben has been recording hourly distance (and occasionally height) data since the Thames Path Walk in 2010. Up until now, it has been with us for every day of the Round England Walk and, whilst it was dropped on 99 (Amble beach in 2017) it recovered – or was recovered – to complete its century. Unfortunately, 150 has proved to be 5 runs/pages too far, and its rather grizzled opener’s reliability has been replaced by a far flashier middle order type which should see us through to the finish. Anyway, enough sporting analogies for one day, and on to the weather which is dry and calm, but with a bit of a chill in the air. It’s certainly a relief to be continuing along the Thames without a strong wind in our faces, and, by the end of the first hour, we’ve completed 3 miles and have arrived in Leigh-on-Sea. We can’t be certain whether we’re in downtown Leigh (if such a thing exists) but the route which we take, close to the estuary, has much to commend it. It’s a narrow cobbled street with 4 pubs – all of which look very tempting, but seem to be closed – and a number of cafés/food outlets, most of which are open. And one of them, Osborne Bros Seafood Merchants, is sufficiently tempting that we stop and purchase crab sandwiches for consumption at lunchtime. At the end of the street, the surroundings become less appealing – a small and rather dilapidated industrial estate alongside the railway station. However, it doesn’t take too long to find our way around this, and we then cross a narrow stream onto Two Tree Island. This is a small nature reserve managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust, with trails running all the way around it which we complete in about 75 minutes, to include a very brief and uncharacteristic stop at a hide to look at some of the bird life (avocets and egrets I believe). Once off the island, we continue west along the north side of a stretch of water called Hadleigh Ray, pausing for 10 minutes to enjoy our crab sandwiches and then crossing Hadleigh Ray, just before Benfleet, to get onto Canvey Island. As with Two Tree, we’re walking around Canvey in a clockwise direction. We’re aiming to complete much of the eastern half today, finish on the sea (or Thames) front, and then walk inland to our overnight stop, the Oysterfleet Hotel. Because Ben is recovering from a heavy cold, there is the possibility of an earlier end point on the north side of the island, but fresh air and the crab sandwiches appear to be having a restorative effect. And so, having walked alongside Castle Point Golf Course (well maintained but pretty featureless) and paused to witness three very different swings from one of the tees, we continue past a residential area and on towards a country park and boatyard. It’s around now that brief mention of the fact that the short form of last Friday’s date (12.11.21) is a palindrome, prompts the realisation that day 2 of our next planned walk in February is a long form date palindrome (22.02.2022) and a typically fascinating conversation ensues, attempting to identify other future dates of this kind, and contrasting the position with regard to dates using the US notation. Remarkably, this conversation doesn’t last much more than 10 minutes. In fact, as we approach the boatyard, the more immediate question arises as to whether, as part of our circumnavigation of Canvey, we should walk to the end of the jetty beyond the yacht club which, along with the walk back, would be an extra mile or so. By the time we reach the yacht club, we’ve come to the very tentative conclusion that it will depend on the route which we would have to take and, with the yacht club gates padlocked, it soon becomes apparent that the first part of the only other route would be muddy and overgrown at best, and probably not walkable. We therefore turn and set off along the eastern esplanade, catch a brief glimpse of the Park Lane Stadium (home to The Gulls – aka Canvey Island FC) and eventually reach our destination for the day, a waterfront leisure park, shortly before 5 o’clock. It’s still three quarters of a mile directly north to the Oysterfleet where, once we’ve checked in, we repair straight to the bar. From the dark attire of a group of people already there, along with the West Ham flags draped around the shoulders of two of the more inebriated characters, it would appear that the bar might be hosting an East End wake (how the devil do you do it Poirot?) but we find a relatively quiet corner in which to rest our weary limbs and have a couple of pints before going up to our rooms. An hour later, we return to the bar for supper. We haven’t needed to book a table, but have been told that reservations are required if we want breakfast tomorrow morning. However, this won’t be available until 8:30, so we’ve decided to leave around 7:30 and hopefully find some sustenance in Canvey. With this in mind, Ben and Gary order something more substantial (supposedly) than usual, namely gammon and chicken pie respectively, whereas John sticks to the traditional fish and chips. The other traditions which are followed are a couple of bottles of wine, stickies, and bed shortly after 9 o’clock.

Day 145 – Little Wakering to Southend-on-Sea: 12.5m: 4.5h

The Last Post opens its doors for breakfast at 7:00, and the staff saw fit to inform us last night that alcohol isn’t served until 9 o’clock! However, we’re back downstairs for food opening time and the breakfast offering is just as competitively priced as everything else. The bill for the three of us totals just over £15, although this includes only a bacon butty for Ben who, in the light of yesterday’s digestive problems, thinks that he should take things easy – on the food front at least.

It was announced yesterday that Southend is to be granted City status in recognition of the campaigning for this which had been done by the local MP, David Amess, who died last Friday having been attacked and stabbed at a constituency surgery. When we leave The Last Post just before 8 to await a cab which we ordered over breakfast, the only noticeable difference in our surroundings is the fact that there’s been quite a bit of overnight rain. There’s still some drizzle in the air but, not for the first time, it seems that we’ve been fortunate in missing the worst of it.

We return to Little Wakering and resume our meandering around the creek at 8:20 in what are now dry but quite windy conditions. This initially takes us east, and then north around Fleethead to bring us back south to the Wakering boatyard opposite Potton Island and, beyond that, Foulness. Under our admittedly rather flexible rules regarding places separated from the mainland, neither of these will form part of our walk, in addition to which we haven’t sought permission from the MOD to visit Foulness. We therefore continue past the boatyard and towards another MOD installation, the Shoeburyness Firing Ranges. Around this time, John receives a phone call from The Last Post. They want to know what to do with a T-shirt and water bottle which have been left in one of our rooms – which turns out to be Ben’s. Our aim today is to get to Chalkwell, or perhaps Leigh-on-Sea, but this will take us through Southend and the pub isn’t too far from the sea front. We therefore say that we’ll call in to collect Ben’s belongings, although given the price of Ruddles and the proximity of Southend Central station, there’s a chance that this could affect our finishing point.

More immediately, we’re not too sure of the route which we’ll be able to take in order to get beyond the firing ranges. We’ve read that there are some paths through the ranges, but it isn’t clear when (if at all) they might be open. It becomes crystal clear as we approach the boundary fence: gates locked and no entry signs everywhere. We therefore have to walk on paths around the perimeter on the landward side of the installation until we regain the coast at Shoeburyness East Beach. Having done so, it soon becomes apparent that the current MOD properties/ranges are the most recent in a history of military defence structures in the area. Over a distance of no more than a mile, we pass a garrison memorial, gun emplacements and Victorian “quick firing batteries”, and in a small park there’s a cairn bearing a 19^th century artillery shell which serves as a memorial to 7 Royal Artillery personnel who were killed in an accidental explosion during tests on gun fuses in 1885. Perhaps this feature of the area is not surprising given its location at the entrance to the Thames Estuary, and it wouldn’t come as a huge surprise to encounter a similar landscape on the opposite shore when we walk through Kent next year.

For the moment, we continue along the north side of the estuary past Thorpe Bay and on towards Southend and its pier which is apparently, at 1.33 miles, the longest pleasure pier in the world (but not extending into the open sea – cf Frinton pier: see day 136). The distance there from the East Beach at Shoeburyness is not much more than 4 miles, but seems longer because we are walking directly into the strong wind. The pier marks the point where we suspend our route westward to make the short diversion to The Last Post in the town centre and, rather than following Ben to the series of steps leading to the streets above the esplanade, John and Gary take advantage of the lift conveniently situated opposite the entrance to the pier. This is probably as good an indication as any of whether we’ll be resuming our walk today. Indeed after reaching The Last Post, retrieving Ben’s effects and ordering pints of Ruddles, the decision is quickly reached not to return to the pier. Of course we seek to rationalise this with comments such as we would only be continuing for a couple of miles or so, and therefore we won’t be affecting plans for the next walk. But clearly the truth is that, rather than spending another hour walking into a headwind, we’d far prefer to have a relaxing beer before wandering over the road to catch an early train home. So that is what we do.               

Day 144 – Eastend to Little Wakering: 15.2m: 5.4h

David is unable to join for these two days due to family engagements (his wife Judith’s birthday) and Mike is still off games, although reports of his recovery from the operation continue to be encouraging. And so, for the first time since October 2017, the group comprises the original triumvirate, with John catching the early morning service from Kingham to London and meeting Ben and Gary at Liverpool Street for the 9:33 train. John has had some difficulty making cab arrangements for the next 24 hours, not because of fuel problems which seem to have eased since last month, but apparent reluctance to accept advance bookings for our pick up and/or drop off points. So far as this morning is concerned, the firm we used at the end of the last trip will collect us, but only from Hockley, the station before Rochford. However, the journey time back to the Plough and Sail is pretty much the same, and the driver makes a few suggestions regarding cabs to take us into and out of Southend this evening and tomorrow morning. And on arrival at the Plough and Sail, she helpfully continues along the lane next to the pub and drops us very close to the Eastend boatyard. We set off from the jetty at 10:45.

For the first hour and a half, we continue west along the north bank of the River Roach but, as we approach Rochford, we move slightly inland to get round the Sutton Wharf boatyard. This takes us past a cricket ground with a small pavilion which, according to a sign next to it, is for “responsible spectators only”. Maybe an MCC member is in charge. Shortly afterwards, on a narrow track running alongside the boatyard fence, we encounter a couple of blokes with four or five dogs which seem to be some kind of bulldog – squat, barrel chested, and wearing broad collars with spikes in them (the dogs, not the blokes). They’re not on leads and, whilst not particularly threatening, they do pay us a considerable degree of attention until restrained, with some difficulty, by their handlers. Once around the boundary fence, we cross a ploughed field and arrive at a very busy minor road. We don’t feel inclined to follow this, so cross over into a grass field and start to follow a signposted path which seems to be going in the right direction. It is indeed the right direction, but the path is not entirely straightforward. We soon have to duck under some trees and risk damp feet and dirty boots crossing a shallow muddy stream and, immediately afterwards, there’s a wire fence to negotiate. Fortunately, the wires don’t have too many barbs in them, and are (or can be made) sufficiently far apart that getting through isn’t too much of a problem.

Eventually, we get back to the minor road at a point where, on the other side, there’s a path leading to Roach Farm and then to the south bank of the river. The section beyond the farm is tree lined and unpopulated which is fortunate for Ben who has to escape from the path to deal al fresco with a digestive emergency. John and Gary reminisce about a similar incident among the sheep on the hills outside Pandy (day 54, June 2014). By the time we reach the Roach, the trees have disappeared and we’re back on a raised grass path walking east along the river bank. About an hour later, almost opposite today’s starting point, there’s a creek where we turn south and wend our way past Barling Hall. Soon after 4 o’clock, we reach our destination for the day, the western end of the creek at Little Wakering from where it’s less than a 10 minute walk to The Castle pub. The cab firm recommended by our driver this morning is one which John had contacted yesterday and they hadn’t been prepared to take a booking 24 hours in advance for a pub pick up. However, when contacted an hour or so ago, they were more amenable. We have the time for a leisurely pint at The Castle before the cab arrives and takes us to The Last Post in Southend. This is a Wetherspoons establishment with rooms – and with a huge bar area. It is not only wide but also very long, stretching from the street where we enter (opposite Southend Central station) to another entrance on a parallel street a block away. Access to the accommodation is through a locked door at the far end of the bar with stairs leading up to the rooms, and payment is taken on check in. The rooms are clearly recent additions. They’re spacious, clean and comfortable, with very efficient showers.

We reconvene at 6:15 and it’s hard to miss the price of a pint of Ruddles staring at us from the pumps on the bar, namely £1.79. We haven’t seen a price this low since, well, the last time we frequented a Wetherspoons, in Clacton-on-Sea earlier this year. But we’ve already ordered a bottle of white, and our attention has turned to the prices on the food menu, to include fish, chips and mushy peas, with an alcoholic drink, for about £8. It hardly comes as a surprise that we don’t linger over our choice, and the food is pretty good – as is the glass of wine which we all choose to accompany it. The only issue which arises is that our plates are clean and our glasses are empty well before 8 o’clock, that’s to say a good hour before our usual retiring watershed. A couple of stickies help to while away the time, and we leave the bar around 9:00.                  

Day 143 – Burnham-on-Crouch to Eastend: 12.1m: 4.3h

We come down for breakfast at 7:15 to find Victoria already cleaning in the bar. She also manages to provide a good cooked breakfast, and we check out and are ready to leave soon after 8:15. The first order of business is to catch the ferry over to Wallasea Island. The ferry is based at the marina on the island and doesn’t operate to a timetable and so, as previously arranged by John, we call the ferryman just after 8:30 to ask him to collect us. He hasn’t yet arrived at the marina but is only a few minutes drive away, and he gets over to the jetty outside the White Harte a quarter of an hour later. He turns out to be a former policeman who spent some time in the force’s boat service. He tells us that, perhaps not surprisingly, the supply chain problems regarding motor fuel are also affecting deliveries of marine fuel. However, this shouldn’t cause too many problems for the ferry, because apparently it only runs from April to September and will be closing tomorrow for the next 6 months. Seems like we’ve struck lucky with our timing.

The crossing to Wallasea takes no more than 10 minues and we arrive there just before 9 o’clock. We’re going to walk clockwise around the island – i.e. along the south side of the Crouch, then round to the north side of the River Roach and finally north west along Paglesham Pool to arrive back at the entrance to the marina. This will comprise a significant part of today’s walk, but how significant remains to be seen. First, we’re uncertain about the distance around the island because there are going to be one or two diversions due to works which are being carried out to parts of the sea wall (using, apparently, excavated material from the Crossrail project) and seasonal nesting birds in some RSPB wetlands. Secondly, although our plan is to walk to Eastend, and the Plough and Sail pub near Paglesham from which a cab is due to collect us at 3 o’clock, it’s possible – time and inclination permitting – that we’ll continue for another 3 miles towards Rochford and arrange for the cab to meet us at another pub. In the event, the Wallasea diversions are not extensive and the distance we cover is just under 8 miles. Once off the island, we turn back on ourselves to walk south east along the other side of Paglesham Pool and, three and a half miles later at 1 o’clock, we’ve rejoined the bank of the Roach and are just over half a mile away from the jetty at Eastend. The question of whether to continue beyond there is raised, and a decision in the negative is quickly reached. This is not based upon time, but rather upon inclination and, more particularly, upon the weather forecast which is for rain in the near future – something supported by ever darkening clouds overhead. Ten minutes later, the rain does start to fall – and very heavily. We’re only a couple of hundred yards away from the jetty and it’s a similar distance from there to the Plough and Sail. However, although we quickly don some wet weather gear, our appearance when we enter the pub can fairly be described as bedraggled and dripping. We order some sandwiches and, having managed to bring forward the cab pick-up time to 2:15, John, Ben and Gary have just the one pint each of a local brew called Wallasea Wench whilst David, who will be driving home from Wickford, has a pint of water and a cup of coffee.

The cab arrives a few minutes early, and it takes around 20 minutes to get to Rochford. Our driver has mentioned a bit of service station chaos nearby at Hockley, and it seems that Rochford is also suffering. We enter a narrow one way street and can see the rail station at a T Junction with a main road about 100 yards away, but the traffic isn’t moving. Apparently, there’s a service station about a quarter of a mile from the T Junction, and many of the cars trying to move in that direction are likely to be queueing for fuel. The next London bound train is due in 12 minutes, and our driver reckons that there’s a distinct risk that we’ll miss it unless we get out and walk the short distance which remains. We take his advice and, by the time we reach the T Junction, there has been little if any movement of the traffic. The train is on time, David alights 3 stops later at Wickford, and the rest of us continue to Liverpool Street.