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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.

Sunday 3 November 2019

Sunday Walk: Leaf Peeping in Leafy Laindon

SWC 114: Laindon Circular T=swc.114

Distance:          12.9 miles or 20.8 km for those more metrically minded 

Difficulty:         6 out of 10

Train:                9:41 Shoeburyness train from London Fenchurch St. Station (West Ham 9:57 and Barking 10:03), arriving Laindon at 10:22. Return trains are at 27 and 57 minutes past the hour. Buy a day return to Laindon.

This is an energetic walk through the “hilly” part of Essex, mostly through woods and a nature reserve with nice views across the Thames valley….One of the previous walk reports intriguingly described it as “pregnant with autumnal possibilities…”  Hard to resist at this time of year, especially with the short train travel……More information about the walk can be found here.

The recommended lunch stop is the well-regarded Bell Inn (01375 642 463) in Horndon-on-the-Hill (a conservation area about 6 miles/10 km into the walk). Tea is usually at the Langdon Visitor Center, but it appears to currently be under renovation….I am sure we will find something, somewhere…..

Enjoy the walk!

6 comments:

PeteG said...

No Circle or District line trains to Tower Hill (for Fenchurch Street) this weekend

David said...

For those in South London with access to the DLR, Tower Gateway is a stone's throw from Fenchurch Street.

Walker said...

It is also not that far from Bank and Aldgate

PeteG said...

Or as I've just found out, Jubilee Line to West Ham.

Heidi said...

The most recent comment on this walk from someone who did the walk in June said the middle section was impassible, as did some previous comments, due to nettles and brambles. Is this something to worry about/ take seriously?

Stargazer said...

Five familiar faces and one newcomer assembled at Laindon Station for the usual formalities and set off under w=initially-perfect-bright-blue-autumnal-skies. The route is actually quite hilly and explores a number of wooded nature reserves -- all showing some nice autumn color. The morning was particularly nice with the sunshine through the trees in the light woods....On the approach to Horndon-on-the-Hill, we caught-up with another familiar face having taken an earlier train....making for n=7 in total. Some dined at the Bell and others had sandwiches, but all regrouped for the afternoon stretch, again through some nice wooded countryside with views back to London -- though, the weather had become a bit misty by then...

It is a very enjoyable walk at this time of year with nice woods and some rolling hills -- all fields/path passible (though some a little overgrown) -- the only draw back being the close approach to the A13 just before lunch....