15.5 km 10 miles 3/10
A pleasant rural walk near London, devised by the London Walker User Group in collaboration with SWC There are written directions for guidance but use of the GPS route is advised.
Places of interest en route include nature reserves, an old church and a Railway Heritage Centre.
For those who remember Steven Backes (Bridie), an optional spur in the afternoon takes you to where he lies.
Transport
Get the Central Line to Theydon Bois to arrive at 10.30. Use Journey planner to time your journey
Finish at Epping Station, also on the Central Line. Both stations zone 6. It is also possible to finish at North Weald and get a bus to Epping. Maybe even a heritage bus.
Lunch
The recommended stop is the Dog House (formerly the Moletrap) open from 12 tel: 01992 522093 Booking advisable. Picknickers can stop at the nearby village pond. (There’s a bench).
You also have the Kings Head in North Weald tel:01992 525001 and a café at the Railway Centre.
Tea
The earliest version of this walk rounded things off with a visit to the Theydon Oak, and that's the route I propose. Directions to this pub are available as the alternative ending.
For a quieter end to the day, the main route would take you past The Garnon Bushes pub 13 km into the walk +44 1992 560211 That ending later passes more pubs and cafes in Epping High Street.
Directions here. t=swc.409
I'm not one to suggest shortcuts, as you know, but for those handy with maps, there is a fairly obvious one, along the Essex Way, that misses out North Weald. Enough said.
2 comments:
Just to let walkers know that on the first 1.5km of this walk, there are two boardwalks which were in poor repair last time it was walked.I have reported this to Essex CC, however be prepared to do some minor scrambling if necessary, This section is also prone to brambles in a couple of locations, so I suggest bringing some secateurs to deal with the little perishers. however the rest of the Walk is obstacle free and pleasantly rural
At North Weald, the Epping to Ongar Heritage Railway is also running on the day of the walk and Railway buffs can find the timetable at https://www.eorailway.co.uk/visit/date/02-08-2026/
N=1 arrived early and waited. Walker number n=2 arrived at 10:32. They waited some more but that was it n=2
The first bit was not as bad as had been painted .The brambles were well-behaved. They knew their place and were keeping to it. Perhaps news of a threatened secateur attack had travelled ahead.. None were deployed. The bridges were dilapidated but still crossable.
The only slight little teeny hitch was a stretch of path obscured by head-high reeds that had to be ‘swum’ through (if you can imagine swimming on dry land). We went slightly adrift here and had to improvise a way back to the motorway tunnel.
Eventually, the church at Theydon Garnon was reached. Here, we gave thanks for our deliverance from the brambly reedy place. It’s an old church, with old stuff in and worth a look inside.
The Woodhatch ‘pond’ was just a dusty hole in the ground. A brief stop at the Dog House ensued. Cider for 1, mussels for another.
There was a sort of non-steam heritage day at North Weald. (No chuffers, cos of the sparks, see). Walker 2 opted to finish the day here with a ride on Derek the Diesel to wherever.
Walker 1 continued alone ‘sigh’.
The gps for the Theydon Oak spur needs a tweak at the start. The indicated path, just after the motorway, doesn’t seem to exist. Instead, take the well defined path to the left, a bit later.
A pleasant stop at the Oak. Sadly, the well-stocked cider board wasn’t noticed until after an Aspalls had been consumed.
Got to Epping just in time to step on the 17:20 back to civilisation.
A pleasant, often shady walk on a day of w=mixed-sun-and_cloud Shame there weren’t more on it.
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