Backup Only

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.

Saturday 7 January 2017

Saturday Second Walk - Along the seawall of the tidal River Crouch: mudflats, creeks, marshlands & 'big skies'

SWC 162 - North Fambridge to Burnham-on-Crouch

Length:  20.9 km (13.0 mi) [shorter walk possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent:  127/120m
Net Walking Time: ca. 4 ½ hours
Toughness:  3 out of 10 
  
Take the 09.35 Southend Victoria train from Liverpool Street, change at Wickford onto the Southminster service (arr. 10.11, dep. 10.16), arrives North Fambridge 10.30.
Concerned about the 5 minute changeover time? (the Southminster train does NOT wait in case of delays). Take the 09.13 Southend Victoria train...
Return trains from Burnham are every 40 mins: 15.40, 16.20, 17.00, 17.40,…, 23.00 (70 mins journey time).

Serenity, tranquillity, solitude: you’ll find lots of it on this walk on the Dengie Peninsula in Essex, which largely follows the tidal River Crouch  eastwards towards the North Sea, on a wide grassy path atop the sea wall, and with the prevailing wind in the back. Far away from any conurbations, you’ll experience wide open and scenic countryside, constantly changing river views, salt marshes, reed ponds, mudflats, creeks, rich bird life, sailing boats and marinas, to then end along the promenade in charming Burnham-on-Crouch, with its plethora of tea options. Flat throughout (apart from the diversion inland for lunch at the good value pub The Three Horseshoes in Althorne), and with exceptionally easy route finding.
This walk should be mud-free after the first couple of field boundaries early on…
For a neutral view on the walk check the comment dated 16/08/15 here or check out the photos or even the video on our website.

Shortcuts:
- It is possible to shorten the walk by taking the train back from Althorne, right before or after lunch, or to take a bus from the lunch pub in Althorne to South Woodham Ferrers.       
-  You can also cut short the approach to the river from Fambridge station in the morning by using a more direct route (cuts 1.4 km/0.9 mi) or cut the Burnham ending short by using a more direct route to the station (cuts 2.1 km/1.3 mi).
-  Taking both shortcuts therefore reduces the length of the walk to 17.4 km (10.9 mi).
Finally, if you bring your own lunch (no shops along the route) for a picnic by the river, you can cut out the walk inland to the lunch pub, reducing the walk by 2.9 km/1.8 mi.

Lunch is at the family-run The Three Horseshoes in Althorne (11.5 km/7.2 mi). For tea, you are spoilt for choice for cafes, restaurants and pubs in Burnham (we might even manage to gate crash the bar at The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club  again in its stunning location overhanging the river estuary…). For details on all these options consult the Walk Directions.
For walk directions, map, height profile, some photos, a video and gpx/kml files click here.T=swc.162

2 comments:

Thomas G said...

n=18 walkers in w=dry-weather-with-low-clouds/mist. The seawall path was unexpectedly muddy in a few places, but mostly fine to walk along. More difficult were the few stiles and the one plank bridge: all slitherey and dangerous, resulting in one comical (injury-free) backwards fall. The route was amazingly quiet today, even by the standards of this remote walk. No other hikers and only very few dog walkers, so we had the scenery to ourselves and the birds.
Mudflats and creeks were exposed for the duration, as we had low tide all the way, making for interesting scenery unlike any other walk I am aware of on this site.
12 pub lunchers and 2 sandwichers walked up to Althorne, the rest continued directly to Burnham. The Three Horseshoes served the - by now familiar - huge portions of tasty, good-value-for-money grub. And they even had space inside for all of us.
2 then took the train from Althorne to Burnham for a mosey.The rest reached the town in time for tea, only to find the first tea shop still shut for year end.
Not to worry, the Quayside Cafe and Restaurant a little further along the promenade served decent cakes and (bagged) tea. Most of the tea-drinkers then joined 4 others for a drink at the Royal Yacht Club (the Corinthians Yacht Club was shut for the day). 17.00 train for the backmarkers.

Anonymous said...

The two who left the group after lunch enjoyed tea at Royal Burnham Yacht Club with fantastic view of peaceful sea - highly recommended.