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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Thursday, 8 September 2022

Special Sunset and Almost Full Harvest Moon High Road Walk to Leigh-on-Sea

SWC 268: Benfleet to Leigh-on-Sea on the High Road t=swc.268

Distance:          5.6 miles or 8.9 km for those more metrically minded

Difficulty:         2 out of 10

Train:                17:43 Shoeburyness train from London Fenchurch St. Station, arriving Benfleet at 18:23 – buy a day return to Leigh-on-Sea

Return:             Trains back from Leigh-on-Sea are at: 20:37; 21:08; 21:14; 21:31; 21:37; 22:03; 22:10; 22:27; 22:57 and 23:04

After some hesitation over the unsettled forecast for the week, have decided to take the plunge and post this perfect route for this time of year…Hopefully, featuring a lovely sunset over the City from THE hill in Essex and finishing up with a nearly full Harvest Moon rising near where the Thames meets the sea on the way to Leigh-on-Sea… It should take about 2 hours to walk to Leigh-on-Sea – so time to have a meal in one if its many pubs before heading back to London. More information about the route can be found here.

Ps: You may want to bring a head torch…but, hopefully, the moon will provide enough light to finish the walk…

1 comment:

Stargazer said...

Perhaps it was the torrential downpours taking place or people waiting for news from the Palace, but just n=2 emerged from a pre-pandemic level of crowded train into (I know most will not believe) w=clear-evening-skies at Benfleet. Without much to do, we set off up the hill behind Benfleet towards Benfleet down where the views over the estuary were stunning... On we went to the "sunset spot" where we could just barely make out the profile of the skyscrapers in the City in some clouds with the sun just starting to set (a bit too early for the bright red colors experienced in the past)...the evening sky remained mostly clear with some clouds catching the color of the setting sun as we carried on...we managed to find our way to Hadleigh Castle without much trouble where we spotted a shy moon rising behind a bank of clouds. Unfortunately, the clouds ultimately won out and expecting the worst, we encountered a few drops of rain on the final stretch into Leigh on Sea, arriving in record time (just past 8:30pm) where we learned the news of the Queen. We had a meal and drinks at the Crooked Billet (food declining a bit) before catching the 22:13 back to London. A very enjoyable walk on a surprisingly pleasant evening in good company. Certainly one that will be remembered.