Main circular walk 15.2km (9.8m) or with optional circuit of Two Tree Island 18.6km (11.6m)..
Difficulty: 4 out of 10
Sadly, no Leigh Folk Festival this month, thanks to some crumby virus. But that doesn’t stop us doing the Benfleet Circular. The morning takes us through the dense, hilly woodland of Benfleet Downs and Hadleigh Country Park. It's possible to finish early at Leigh on Sea (trains at xx:11 xx:41) but, to complete the circular walk, we head back alongside Benfleet Creek with fine views of the estuary and an optional circuit of Two Tree Island nature reserve.
Trains Get the 09:45 Shoeburyness train from Liverpool Street Station, getting to Benfleet at 10:33. A return to Benfleet will do you. Leigh-on-Sea, one stop further, is the same price ( the “on-sea” bit is important). Trains return from Benfleet at xx:17 and xx:47
Lunch:
Covid restrictions may impact - consider bringing a picnic and water. The walk visits Hadleigh Castle on the way to Leigh, a good spot for a picnic with superb views.
Leigh-on-Sea has at least three pubs (The Crooked Billet 01702 480289, The Peterboat 01702 475666 and Ye Olde Smack 01702 476765), a teashop, and seafood places, all along the waterfront.
Tea: Two possible tea stops.
Barge Gladys (don’t, she’s a big girl) (last year's joke but worth repeating). It is a pub on a boat - with an onshore seating area. Cash only. Nearer the station, you'll find The Hoy and Helmet tel: 01268792307.
Directions for Benfleet Circular are here
(Another option would be to continue east from Leigh-on-Sea to Southend, Shoeburyness or one of several nearer stations, following these additional directions. Trains back are
half-hourly. Your return ticket will cost slightly more).
Covid-19 Compliance: please note the current guidance on this website and observe social distancing. Please sign up for this walk in advance if you can, using the London Walkers User Group site. (This saves time collecting contact details). Otherwise bring a piece of paper with your email address on it, which will be put in an envelope and accessed if needed for contact tracing. To report a Covid case after this walk, use covid@lwug.co.uk
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3 comments:
N=3 today. The weather was better than predicted w=dry-overcast-with-occasional-sun So no water from above but plenty from below, off the wet vegetation that encroached on the narrower stretches. As one wag put it “No folk festival but at least we can have a soak festival” How we laughed. The brambles were making an earnest bid for new territory but it didn’t stop us. Nor did the occasional slippery bit. I was slightly miffed that the official route descends to railway level before climbing back to the castle. Last year, when we were a bit lost, we eventually found our way to the castle without this extra ascent. Still, it’s exercise innit.
We didn’t stop long at the castle, instead making for the Crooked Billet in Leigh where service was organised with almost military precision. My co-walkers ordered food. I grudgingly ordered some soup - a rare event. It was fine as was the view over the estuary mud.
Then back along to Benfleet, incorporating a visit to Two Tree Island. Last year, I remember the eastern half as being ‘quite interesting’. This year, we did the western half, which I found ‘a bit dull’. Nothing to look at, just plants and stuff. Then back to the mainland noticing egrets on the island lagoon as we passed it. Then to Barge Gladys which made a pleasant and timely end to the day.
Nature notes - on the way from Hadleigh Castle to Leigh we walked through a big field of wheat mixed with rye-grass - is this a normal practice? The boring plants on the island included salsify, salad burnet (and a burnet moth - or was that somewhere else?), fennel and loads of a familiar thing which I had a mental blank about but later established were wild parsnips.
We saw the moth on the raised path just after Leigh station
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