Saturday Walk - Laindon Circular: Essex Hills, wooded Nature Reserves and panoramic Thames Valley Views

This worked well last December (less mud than expected, brilliant pub stop, ample time to complete the walk before darkness), so why not do it again, with an earlier train for more time at the pub and/or the cafe, i.e. getting there before it closes?

 

Length: 20.9 km (13.0 mi) 

Ascent/Descent: 336m 

Net Walking Time: 4 ¾ hours 

Toughness: 5/10

[shorter versions possible, see below]

Take the 09.18 Shoeburyness train from Fenchurch Street (Limehouse 09.22, West Ham 09.27, Barking 09.33, Upminster 09.42), arrives Laindon 09.54. 

Return trains: on xx.27 or xx.57.

This is an energetic and varied figure-of-eight walk through some tranquil, hilly parts of Essex, mostly through woods, both ancient and modern, and through flower-rich meadows and some farmland, which are all parts of Langdon Hills Country Park and the neighbouring Langdon Nature Reserve (which itself consists of five separate reserves). The hills form a crescent shaped ridge running West-to-East, giving panoramic views over the Thames Estuary from many points: out to Canvey Island and Fobbing Marshes in the East, across to Kent and to London’s Skyline in the West.

The lunch destination Horndon-on-the-Hill is a conservation area and features several noteworthy buildings as well as a multi award-winning pub. On the return you walk through more beautiful, undulating woods and then through the Dunton Plotlands part of the Nature Reserve, an interesting area formerly full of bungalows and chalets for Londoners, now with a brand-new large visitor centre and café.

Disclaimer: This walk contains some arable field crossings around lunch (about 1km in total), where it is also afflicted by some road noise from the nearby A13 for a while.

Walk Options: 

Shortcuts cut out 2.4 km (1.5 mi) and 2.6 km (1.6 mi) respectively. 

Cutting out the outer loop to Horndon-on-the-Hill reduces the walk by 5.5 km.

 

Lunch: The Bell Inn (food 12.00-18.00, a table has been booked for 12.15) or The Swan Inn (food served 12.30-16.00) in Horndon-on-the-Hill (10.4 km/6.4 mi). 

Tea: Langdon Visitor Centre in Dunton Plotlands (café open to 16.00, 3.1 km from the end of the full walk).

 

For summary, map, height profile, some photos, walk directions and gpx/kml files click here. t=swc.114