Formerly Epping to Ongar, this is now re-vamped and re-vived, slightly re-routed in a couple of places, longer and with more options...
Length: 26.9 km (16.7 mi)
Ascent/Descent:
209/232m
Net
Walking Time: 5 ¾ hours
Toughness:
4 out of 10
Take
the 09.26 Central Line train from Liverpool Street, arrives Epping 10.01. Epping is in Zone
6.
Return
trains
from Ingatestone to Liverpool Street are on xx.02 and xx.32,
journey time 29 minutes.
The train stops at Shenfield (Crossrail) and Stratford
(Crossrail, Overground, Underground, DLR). [Boundary Zone 6 on that line is at Harold
Wood.]
Buy a Zone 1-6 Travelcard plus a single ticket Ingatestone to Harold
Wood.
This
walk leads through the mildly undulating area to the east of the northerly end
of Epping Forest, initially through the Roding River catchment area, later that
of the River Wid. It is an area dotted with ancient woods, historic villages,
old churches, plentiful pubs and inns and large manor houses, reflecting the
wealth generated by the richness of the soil and the existence of important
trading routes leading through it.
The outstanding historic features and buildings are Chipping Ongar’s
Motte-and-Double-Bailey, Greensted’s oldest wooden church in the world and
Blackmore’s former priory church with its rare wooden bell tower. The first half of the walk follows the Essex Way and shadows the now closed
stretch of the Central Line from Epping to Ongar. This continues the route of
two other SWC Walks along the line (SWC 241 and 197).
The second half of the walk broadly follows the St. Peter’s Way to near
Ingatestone.The route passes through many woods and with the subsoil being London Clay,
some mud can be expected after rain, although after this dry week it should be
quite bearable. There are also a handful of arable field crossings, all along
usually well-cleared paths though.
Walk
Options:
Hourly
buses to/from Chipping Ongar and Blackmore enable short, very short or
extremely short walks. See the webpage or the pdf for details.
Lunch: There are plenty of
pubs along the route at regular intervals (check page 2 of the pdf),
recommended are: The King’s Head in Chipping Ongar
(13.1 km, food all day) and The
Leather Bottle in Blackmore (19.6 km, food all day).
Tea: Megarry’s Antiques and Tea Room in
Blackmore (7.3 km from the end of the route), The Cricketers in Mill
Green (3 km from the end of the route) and The Bell Inn (Shepherd
Neame) or The Star Inn
in Ingatestone.
1 comment:
n=10 walkers, incl. 2 first-timers, on this walk in w=sunny weather.
Posting this principally mud-prone walk in deep winter was a risk that kind of paid off I felt, as large stretches of ground were still frozen and even the paths and fields that were in the sun were only soapy in the top few centimetres but frozen underneath. Semi-serious mud was evident though along some enclosed tracks and in a couple of the arable fields mid-afternoon, when they had been exposed to the sun for longer. The challenge therefore was not so much the mud itself but the ever-changing ground conditions, sometimes every few metres.
With icy ponds and puddles everywhere, fine far views in the cold air, the dappled sun breaking through the leafless trees, it was a grand day for being out though. A couple of small herds of deer were observed just off-path, snowdrops were spotted, daffs are not far behind, grand footballer's mansions were admired in Fryerning.
All 10 walked the main walk route to Ingatestone, wiht 3 picnickers stopping at Ongar for their break, 3 others in Blackmore while the 4 lunchers feasted in The Leather Bottle. All 6 picnickers then waited outside the pub in the sun for the group to move on together. We got to The Bell Inn in Ingatestone just before 5 and all 10 went inside, even letting the next train pass and settling for the 18.02. Group Cohesion: admirable.
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