Essex circuit twixt the Crouch and Thames

Today, a brilliant early autumn day, I went exploring this corner of Essex between the River Crouch and the Thames Estuary at Southend, guided by my good friend who has roots in this part of the world. A map of our route is here.

We started at Hockley station (trains from Liverpool Street), and made our way out to Wallasea Island. On the way we climbed (on foot) to St Andrews Church at Ashingdon: the modest church is sited on a hill, which although low, is an excellent view point over the otherwise flat Crouch Valley (the most noticeable feature of which was a huge black field, which turned out to be a solar array). Next we went through Canewdon, whose church has a rather more grand tower. Unfortunately, we found that the pub in Canewdon was closed on Monday lunchtimes, so we pressed on to Wallasea, hoping to find the cafe at the marina open, but alas, it too was closed on Mondays: just our luck.

Supressing our hunger pangs, we pressed on along the track onto the Island to the car park which gives a good view over the lagoons. These have been created as part of an ongoing project between Crossrail and the RSPB, whereby on the one hand the spoil excavated from the Crossrail project is being spread over the island to raise its level, whilst on the other hand the sea defences are being breached to allow the sea in to create tidal lagoons and mudflats. When complete many years hence it should be a great place to view wildfowl and waders, but at present access is limited by the ongoing works.

(From here on we used a few footpaths, walking where appropriate.)

Next, we progressed to the quiet village of Pagelsham where we found the pubs had closed after lunch and visited the banks of the River Roach, before finally making it to the small town of Rochford, where at last we found a nice cafe open in the town square, for a late lunch cum tea.

We then headed past Southend Airport and over to the Wakerings: at first we encountered busy rush hour traffic, but this died away once we branched off from the Southend ratrun. Great Wakering had little to recommend it, but we made our way to the gates of the Shoeburyness ranges, just to say we'd been. I think the roads across the range onto Foulness Island are sometimes open, and it would be interesting to return for a further exploration.

This was our furthest East: we made our way back to the town of Shoeburynes, where we joined the coastal promenade, which we followed (dismounting where required by signage) all the way through Southend to Leigh-on-Sea, heading into a golden sunset, reflected in the waters and mudbanks of the Thames estuary. At Leigh, we had a welcome hot dinner in one of the many excellent fish-based pubs, before catching the train back to Fenchurch Street.