Evening Walk - Open water, grassland, woodland, marshland, fenland, green spaces: The Ingrebourne Valley

COVID 19

Track-and-Trace: please provide email address (preferred) or mobile phone number at the start

Rule of Thirty: for the foreseeable

 

Open water, grassland, woodland, marshland, fenland via a series of linked green spaces along the Ingrebourne River: Hornchurch to Upminster

Length: 11.7 km/7.3 mi; Height Gain: 90m

Net Walking Time: 2 ½ hours

 

Meet 18.45 hours prompt outside Hornchurch Station (District Line to Upminster, in Zone 6), travel time from Tower Hill 43 minutes, from West Ham (Jubilee Line, DLR and Mainline trains) 25 minutes, from Barking 14 minutes, from Upminster 3 minutes. 

Your fastest option will be to take a Mainline train from Fenchurch Street (walk 2 minutes from Tower Hill, 10 from Bank) via Limehouse, West Ham, Barking to Upminster (24 minutes journey) and travel back two stops on the District Line. 

Return trains from Upminster (today via Barking and Stratford to L’pool Street): 21.03, 21.33, 22.02, 22.36. 

Return District Line: every few minutes

 

The part of the Ingrebourne Valley walked through on this walk comprises a varied and unique mixture of interlinked and partly overlapping local green spaces - Ingrebourne Valley Greenway, Berwick Glades, Berwick Woods, Hornchurch Country Park, Ingrebourne Hill and the Sutton, Hacton and Gaynes Parkways. These include habitats ranging from river, open water, grassland, secondary and ancient woodland, marshland, fenland (with the largest continuous area of freshwater reed beds in Greater London), and – not to forget – some arable farmland.

Partly former airfield, ex-quarries, farmland or landfill site, it is now a continuous green space and contains – pound for pound – one of the best viewpoints of London’s Skyline, from all of 11 metres above sea!

 

Walk Options:  

Several shortcuts are possible, as the southerly parts of the outbound and return routes are running close to each other, these are obvious on the route map. 

Bus Stops for services to District Line stations are located close to the route after 8 km and 9.2 km. 

Follow the outbound route back to Hornchurch station instead of going to Upminster: cut 1.8 km. 

An Extension through Berwick Woods to the reed-fringed Berwick Pond adds 1.4 km. 

 

Refreshments: Several Restaurants, Pubs and a Tap Room in Upminster, see the pdf or webpage for details.

 

For a detailed route map, gpx/kml file, photos and pdf directions click here. T=short.34