Length: 8.4 km (5.2 miles), plus around 4 km (2.5 miles) if you do a circuit of the reserve. Toughness: 1/10
11:05 Shoeburyness train from Fenchurch Street (Limehouse 11:09, West Ham 11:14, Barking 11:20), arriving Rainham (in TfL Zone 6) at 11:28. There are several ways to connect with this train en route, eg. Jubilee or District line at West Ham.
Trains back from Purfleet to Fenchurch Street are at xx:28 & xx:58. You could buy a Zones 1-6 Travelcard plus a single from Purfleet to Rainham on the way back, or simply use Oyster PAYG/contactless for both journeys as Purfleet (the next station down the line) is in the extended Oyster fare zone.
This walk along the “evocative and atmospheric” Thames Path is pitched by its author as a ‘preamble’ before visiting the RSPB's Rainham Marshes nature reserve, but non-birdwatchers should also find enough to hold their interest. After ninety minutes of mud-free walking you'll be able to admire a panoramic view over the reserve from the café inside its visitor centre, which is open to non-visitors. If you choose to enter the site, it's free to RSPB members and residents of Havering or Thurrock, otherwise £6.
From the visitor centre Purfleet station is about 1 km away, with the Royal Hotel en route if you want further refreshment. The newly-revised walk document also includes a dotted line on the map showing a slightly different route back to Rainham station, if you want to try that instead; it's 5 km from the south-western exit gate on the reserve. The trains call there five minutes after Purfleet.
You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.172
2 comments:
Walk fully updated after a walk check yesterday. Please don't use directions printed off before now, as some things have changed.
Bird sightings last week: 11 types of waders, 4 of raptors, 8 of wildfowl, 2 of heron, 9 of small birds.
N=13 and a small dog set off on this foray. A day miraculously w=sunny-and-dry after a gloomy, wet outlook. Not the most rural of walks but plenty to interest nonetheless. The group split on entering the marshes into mainwalkers and Thameswalkers I followed the latter group through what seemed like a hogweed forest and along the river. A route peppered with mysterious, mildly witty signs and mock gravestones. (I don’t know either). We passed some concrete barges left over from D-day. People kept stopping to look at ducks through their ‘bins’ (I could have told them what they were. Ducks)
Refreshment was taken at the RSPB centre. More people with ‘bins’. Some of us stayed for a look round the reserve some planned a circuit back to Rainham and others, including yours truly went straight to Purfleet.
There was a bit of a flap there with trains cancelled for what looked like another hour maybe longer. We had just about given up all hope when one turned up unannounced and whisked us away. The second miracle of the day.
Post a Comment