07/12/19 - London Countryway Stage 22 - West Horndon to Gravesend

Distance - 14.5 Miles
Start - West Horndon
Finish - Gravesend
Geocaches - 0
Pubs - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Gravesend
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16, Stage 17, Stage 18, Stage 19, Stage 20, Stage 21

Another goal reaches it's end.    Monthly, for the last two years, I've been taking advantage of Virgin Trains cheap advance tickets to travel from my Midlands home and walk a section of the London Countryway.    Seems fitting that this, the 22nd such trip, is on the day that Virgin lose the West Coast Mainline franchise.   My 17:43pm from Euston amongst the last handful of services they will run.   I expected the drinks trolley to make it out of first class to share the gin with the regulars.   Should have taken a later train.

Following a painless commute, my walking day started at West Horndon at 10am.   The walk is going to end in spectacular style with a Thames Ferry Crossing.   No great endeavour deserves to finish in Tilbury.   Homework done, and I know even ferrymen have a lunch break - with a gap in the services from 2:10pm.    I have four hours to walk about 13 miles - so there won't be any hanging around.

Its not Geocaches or pubs that slow me down in the early stages - but endless muddy fields and un-signposted footpaths that criss cross water ditches.  Get it wrong and you are either dyke jumping, or doubling back on yourself.

Deceptive fields of mud.   Some of it exported back to the West Midlands

I can bring you little joy on the first 9 miles or so.  The tower blocks of Chadwell St Mary mark the beginning of the end - soon, it will be farmhouses that seem to be producing nothing but junk machinery and industrial scale mud.   Plus some pylons and abandoned factories.

Civilisation

Abandoned factories

No need to despair - there's a reason for what looks a lengthy detour to Coalhouse Fort.   A more direct route could have been taken into Tilbury but this stretch of 3 mile stretch of the Thames is an absolute joy.

Keith Chesterton describes a scraggly collection of houses and a pub that lead to the Fort.   They're all still there - undeserving of even a name on the OS Map.   With the seagull squawks, there's a real seaside feel to the approach to the Thames.   A little church, bombed from the estaury by the Dutch in 1667, shows why the gun batteries were needed.

Coalhouse Fort

A slight concern - especially as I am in the last few miles of a 205 mile walk - is the news that the sea wall has been breached by previous high tides and the footpath back to Tilbury is closed.

I've little choice but to investigate - my return tickets are from Gravesend - and there's no way I'm leaving a 2 year mission incomplete.    On inspection, you can't help but feel the council are over reacting.   Yes, the sea wall has a broken stretch of about 10 metres - which they have sealed off quite dramatically.   To get through, a drop down to the foreshore and back up is all that is required.

I find myself reminded of the closing stages of the London Loop - which had a similar walk along the Thames to Purfleet.   The skies are quite wonderful and there's a real feel of industrial decline, with endless ruined wharfes and constructions to which you can only guess the purpose.  Many photos, of the low winter sun over Gravesend.

Reaching the Thames

Mudlarker

Seaside-esque

More of the Same

Another, much older, fort at Tilbury and the cruise ship Magellan points to where the Tilbury Passenger crossing is.   It's 2pm and I've made it by 10 minutes.   It seems other people are in the mood to join in my celebrations.  You'd think I was making it up if I told you about the three well oiled cockneys on a water based pub crawl were dancing to Chas and Daves' "Gertcha".  What started off as amusing became quite annoying when the track skipped onto "My old mans a dustman" as we board the ferry.

Waiting for the marginally less impressive 2:10 passenger ferry

10 minutes on the ferry and I'm back in Kent.   Dropped off at the Three Daws pub, one of the three Good Beer Guide entries that will be in a separate blog.   Its busy, so I take my celebration pint into the beer garden - providing fine views back over my route.   I look over the water and consider the odyssey undertaken until my reflection is interrupted by unmistakable dulcet tones.

The three amigos have found their way outside and cranked up Chas and Dave's "Margate".

My ferry - and see those Pylons?  I walked through them

The end of London Countryway celebration.   Gertcha!

02/11/19 - London Countryway Stage 21 - Brentwood to West Horndon

Distance - 6 Miles
Start - Brentwood
Finish - West Horndon
Geocaches - 3
Pubs - The Railway Hotel, West Horndon
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16, Stage 17, Stage 18, Stage 19, Stage 20


All things move toward their end and a nice easy leg on the penultimate stage of London Countryway.

A mere 6 miles and downhill all the way, as I move towards the flatlands of the River Thames estuary.

Not that today's walk was lacking in drama.   The majority of the walk is in Thorndon Country Park - officially closed to the public due to high winds.  I've set the alarm at 5:40am, travelled 130 miles and have targets to meet - so I conducted my own health and safety assessment.   Hard shell goretex top and bottoms and a German made trekking umbrella and I will be fine.

I'm not going to lie - the wind did test the umbrella.

Grim and soggy start at Brentwood Station and a short mile through the housing estates before picking up the woodland that provides some respite from the gales.    Very little to bring you in the way of photos, but if you're going to walk in woodland, doing it in Autumn provides the optimal experience.

Today's Walk - Mainly Woodland

Perfect in Autumn

Old Hall Pond - the only Variety

I'd done my research and the comments on Des's blog had warned of the dangers and futility of trying to cross the A127 at the official footpath crossing.   Dick Bowman, who's GPX files I am following, managed to successfully cross without diversion.   I can only assume he did this at 3am on a Sunday morning.    I waited for 10 minutes, but there was no chance of getting through four lanes of speeding cars. 

At least I knew which way to go for the nearest safe crossing - and a grim one mile diversion it was to.   I know the answer to the question "Where does Essex man dispose of plastic water bottles that are certainly recycled for a use other than the storage of water".

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, cross the A127

And onto Essex Man, I might as well meet him at his lowest ebb but in his natural habitat.   No danger of the Railway Hotel (further proof that the scariest pubs always have Railway in the title) not being open at 11:57am.

England had lost in a rugby final in a game that had started at 8:30am.   The flat capped, tattooed ones were fours hours into an early doors drinking day.   They were showing no signs of going back to reality any time soon.

West Hordon's Railway Hotel

12/10/19 - London Countryway Stage 20 - Theydon Bois to Brentwood

Distance - 14 Miles
Start - Theydon Bois
Finish - Brentwood
Geocaches - 5
Pubs - The Brewery Tap, Brentwood
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16, Stage 17, Stage 18, Stage 19

On every odyssey, there's a moment that becomes a test of faith, leaving you questioning what the hell you are up to.

This was the moment for the London Countryway - a day of foul weather, ploughed muddy fields, disappearing footpaths and only the most gastro of pubs for potential refreshment.

Still, it ends on a high point in the Weald Country Park and I can look back on the very pleasant previous 19 stages with a fondness, hoping Tilbury can save the day for the grand finale :-)

For a walker - light drizzle is the very worst of weathers.   Not so bad that you want to don top and bottom waterproofs - so you head off, only for the intensity to gradually increase without you really noticing.   By 5pm, I was soaked through to my pants, unsuccessfully trying to keep warm in an overly air-conditioned Virgin train carriage.

Theydon Bois Underground Station is left and a badly overgrown footpath leads to some terrible terrain to the M11.   Des De Moor explains how Blunts Farm had been using the land illegally for commercial waste and worryingly tells that I am finding it better condition now than it once was.

Just what you need in the Drizzle - overgrown damp foliage 

Pleased to arrive at the M11 Underpass

I'll keep the next few miles to a minimum - after a pleasant enough section on an old roman road, there are a lot of very muddy, recently ploughed fields.    I'm following Dick Bowman's GPX and the footpaths around Hill Hall and Colemans farm are no longer there.   Hedges exist on the exact point he previously walked through.   Photo wise - and this is true for the majority of the walk - all I have to bring you are churchs.   There are a considerable amount, surprising when you consider how lowly populated the areas are.

Stapleford Tawney - possibly the most pretty

Stapleford Rivers - about 6 miles in - offers the first potential refreshment stop but I've carrying too much mud to even consider soiling their gastro pub.    More interesting is the detritus of the former old white bear next door.   Now a private residence, its sounds like it had a chequered history as a motorcycle gang hang out before falling to economic unviability.   The pub sign is dumped in the back garden before the River Riding, along with the usual assortment of junk, kept by the landed gentry.

Gastro Woodman - Not right for me today

How the Next Door White Bear looked in 1911

The former beer garden reminding me I could have been watching the new Breaking Bad Film on Netflix

After another couple of miles of mud and misery, I kind of regret not cleaning myself off and using the Woodman.   The only other available stop is Alec's in Navestock Side.  What used to be a classic country pub opposite the village cricket pitch is now Essex's finest fish restaurant.   Pray for the local's who have lost their community asset.

The day is saved by Weald Country Park.   Only a short section but the trees are magnificent in their decrepitude and who wouldn't want to meet an antlered Stag, apart from Richmond Park's Fenton.

What - No Mud in a Country Park

Lovely trees

Jesus Christ Fenton - Its a Stag

Weald Country Park is that lovely that they don't want you to leave, building a high fence around it and providing little signage to where the gate is to escape.   When you do, its all roads into Brentwood.

I chose the Brewery Tap for the only refreshment, declining the Good Beer Guide Entry on the other side of town.   This was just too close to the station to ignore.

Station down the road

No idea of why its called the brewery tap - its not associated with any brewery and mainly appealing to Carling drinkers.   There were three real ales on and when I tell you that Doom Bar was the best choice, you'll know Greene King featured for the other two.

But who can complain at a pub closest to a station that you can use an Oyster Card to get into the smoke that only charges £2.50 a pint.

21/09/19- London Countryway - Stage 19 - Broxbourne to Theydon Bois

Distance - 12 Miles
Start - Broxbourne
Finish - Theydon Bois
Geocaches - 5
Pubs - The Crown - Waltham Abbey, Kings Oak - Epping Forest, The Bull - Theydon Bois
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16, Stage 17, Stage 18


The London Countryway is moving towards its end.   With three legs to go, I enter Essex, the final county.

There's no better description for today's leg than "A walk of two halves".

The first half is a four mile stretch southbound on the Lea Valley County Park.  I've walked the River Lea from Source to Mouth, so know exactly what to expect.  If you haven't, imagine a relentless canal, with an arrow straight path dissecting water filled gravel pits to the opposite side.   Throw in lunatic cyclists with their painfully annoying bells and you'll be rather pleased to reach Waltham Abbey.

Lea Valley Country Park in a Picture

Waltham Abbey is a place of interest - lots of history and interesting buildings with a chance of a refreshment stop.  Arriving before the sun has passed the yard arm, I choose the first pub available, the Crown.   Would have been a risk to ignore an 11am opener.   No doubt the McMullens Country Bitter was the first pull of the day and the only thing in its favour was it was not the worst pint of the day.   After navigating the town, I learn that although from the same Brewery, the Welsh Harp looked a more interesting building - separating the church from the market square.   It dripped ancient history.  One for another day.

Marking the entry into the final county

A Rare 11am Opener

What you get for being first in

Impressive Church in the Abbey Grounds

The M25 has been added since Keith Chesterton wrote the guide.  It's kind of fun reading him use terms like "if it will be built".   I wonder if the same will happen with HS2 in the future?

Once the motorway is bridged, its a short section of countryside, before reaching Epping Forest.

Out the other side of Waltham Abbey

The forest is picked up at the Visitor Centre, where there is fine looking, rambling monster of a pub.  You can see by the skies in the pictures that it's summer's final hurrah and with plenty of time available, it would be rude not to stop.

Kings Oak

Not wanting to risk a Greene King IPA, I think I've played it safe by going reassuringly expensive.  Yet somehow, they cannot even keep Stella Artois well.   Headless, soapy, with a scummy top.   At least they kindly filled my water bottle for the last few miles.

The second half of this walk proves a delight, the mighty trees offering plenty of shade and broad rides taking me all the way to Theydon Bois.   Only one photo required, so you can get the drift.

Perfect Place to walk in an Indian Summer

Theydon Bois, the penultimate stop on the Eastbound Central Line, offers a couple of choices for refreshment.   The Bull, a Charles Wells Pub, proved the correct choice and the one closest to the Station.   Low ceilings inside, lovely garden outside and a good pint of Youngs Bitter saved the beer day out.

Charming Theydon Bois

I'm back on the trail in October for another unvisited town.   Brentwood.  Who knows what I'll find.

23/09/17 - Epping and the Forest Gate Inn

Distance - 15.6 Miles
Geocaches - 26
Walk Inspiration - Jarrold Essex, Walk 27


A full day walk, where all of my hobbies combine for maximum effect.

Epping is easy to get to from London.  Just get on the Central Line, head East and ask for someone to give you a nudge when you get to the end of the line.

Epping - End of the Central Line

Of course, it's Epping Forest that provides the best walking area.  Great to do, not so good to look at on the photos.  Broad tracks through the forest shared with the grumpiest look Duke of Edinburgh kids that you've even seen.

Epping Forest looks like this

I'm reading about English history at the moment and a Geocache at Ambresbury Fort tells the story of Queen Boadicea's last stand against the Romans in AD61.  Legend has it that this was the location where she poisoned herself and her daughters, rather than being taken prisoner.

High proportion of Ammo Can Caches in the Woods.

Best views of the day are at Woodridden Hill.  I share the spot with the DOE'ers, who, at the prospect of food, are in better spirits.

Essex and Hertfordshire below...

A classic walk that ends at a Pub.  The 2018 Good Beer Guide dropped through my letterbox this week and the Forest Gate Inn, Epping, wins the prize for this volume's first tick.

Forest Gate Inn, Epping, Adnams Southwold

Good Beer Guide 2018 Entry

So, the walk linked in nicely with the History book I am reading and the pub links in nicely with Geocaching.

The pub is a Multi Cache.  For the uninitiated, it means that I have to collect clues from the building to find the co-ordinates of the Geocache.  After counting Lamposts, collecting dates from the benches, counting the bars on the gate on the pub sign and getting confused by what the Cache Owner meant by the round window, I have all the information required to plot the co-ordinates at the bar, whilst taking a pint of Adnams Southwold.

Good job I had something to do, as it took my mind of a disappointing pint, where the head disappeared before I had programmed the GPS.

Poor Start to the 2018 Good Beer Guide Ticking

There's a couple of hours to kill before heading back to the Smoke for my pre-booked train.  I could right this beer wrong by seeing what's available in town.  The George and Dragon looked too much like a Gastro Pub with Stone Baked Pizza and Prosecco.  The more down at heel Black Lion looked too much like Quavers and Carling.

I decided to extend the walking and attack the cache trail along the start of the Essex Way.

Sometimes, it's all about the caching numbers.

05/02/17 - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Saffron Walden

Distance - 6.2 Miles
Geocaches - 3
Walk Inspiration - AA 1001 Walks, Walk 639
Pubs - The Old English Gentleman and The Kings Arms


"Which plant is Saffron produced from?" is one of those classic pub quiz questions that always have you scratching your head and announcing to your team that you know this one.

As we have it on good authority from reliable sources that there is little of interest in Bishops Stortford, we stop off on route to Stansted Airport (and hopefully sunnier climes) to see if we can determine the answer.

Unusually from such a reliable source as the AA book, the walk isn't all that.  We get a glimpse of the impressive church but will leave investigations of SW until we return.  Once we are through the grounds of Audley Park and found a couple of caches, the walking gets a little agricultural.

SW Church - Up Close

Looking back to SW from Audley Park

Rest of the Walk is mainly this - perhaps full of crocus in a different season?

The walk has proved functional and infinitely better than looking at the inside of a Premier Inn room. It also drops us back into the town, where amongst other architectural gems are two Camra Good Beer Guide Pubs.

The holiday starts here.

The Old English Gentlemen, Gold Street, Theakstons XB

The OEG to its Friends

Gold Street provides a suitably impressive portal to the town and at the far is the OEG, one of two GBG entries in the town.

Its all perfectly functional - four real ales on and as per last week, I was tempted by a Woodforde Wherry but I couldn't resist another chance to have the best pint I found in Yorkshire last year.

I placed my Theaskstons XB on our little table and Mrs Mappiman inquired as to where the head might be.

I explained they like it like that in these parts.

The Kings Arms, Market Hill, Woodforde Wherry

A nice bimble through the ancient streets and we are delivered to GBG #2, the Kings Arms, making great use of their external bootscraper to get the most of Essex from beneath our feet.

Mrs Mappiman in a rush to get to the boot scraper.

Now this is exactly my sort of pub.  Bustling but with myriad rooms.  If one is busy, just try another.

I make my way to the bar, see the wares on offer and it had to be a Woodforde.  Previously not seen since Norfolk and now found it three times in a week.

Drinks are taken to a lovely quiet lounge with mini chesterfields, the Sunday papers and a roaring fire.

There's not really any need to leave the UK is there?

All is right in the world

31/01/15 - An Unfitting End

Start - Harold Wood
Finish - Purfleet
Distance - 13.7 Miles
Geocaches - 14


Carriage A of the 7:20am Birmingham International to Euston resounded to the cheers of middle aged women and the popping of champagne corks. Alas, this was nothing to do my final leg of London Loop but with me accidently finding myself in the middle of a pre-breakfast hen do.  Terry Thomas could have had a field day.

So this is it - 15 months in the making and I find myself travelling to Harold Wood for the final piece of the jigsaw.  A week looking at increasingly ominous weather forecasts suggest everything from blue skies to snowstorms.  In the end, I escape relatively lightly - even if the last four miles were through horizontal sleet.

I'm in for a lengthy haul today, so after a DNF at Harold Wood Station, I can ignore the geocaching and get on with a good few uninterrupted miles.  This walking is through a pleasant enough landscape following the minor Ingrebourne river, into a nature reserve.

Mud avoiding Tarmac Paths for most of Today

First signs of civilisation are at Upminster Bridge, but I'm on tight timescales, so have no time to stop for refreshments.  I also set a time limit on cache hunting, which means number 2 of the day is also a fail.

Never mind, there are loads in Hornchurch Country Park, a former WW1 and WW2 RAF base.  Somehow, the ground and many lakes did not look suitable enough to support the take off and landing of Spitfires.  There is plenty of evidence of its former use with many old pill boxes just off the paths.

Muggles avoided and an increase on my smiley count, I come to Rainham - where naturally enough, it starts raining.  I have factored in time for a break if the pubs on route look suitable.

They are not.

If you're going to name the pub the Albion, don't put it in Wolves colours.

The ones in town are even worse.  I take a look at the Norman Church and head off, thirsty.

Corporate Art, War Memorial and Norman Church

The tourist information signs don't really offer much in the way of quality entertainment.

Go past the Pylon to look at the Concrete Barges

It's a strange landscape once outside Rainham.  Over the railway line and into Rainham Marshes, were the usually ubiquitous London Loop signs disappear.  I do fancy a look at the concrete barges but despite being in the guidebook, the direction arrows are sending me in the opposite direction.

I revise my plans to make sure I complete every inch of the London Loop and set a course to the grey factories and warehouses.  It's that sort of landscape.  A last dissection of two industrial units bring me to the flood defences of the Thames and the original end - the site of the old Rainham to Erith ferry.

No Ferry running now

The guidebook suggests turning around and going back to Rainham station, but improvements to the loop have been subsequently made.  It's now possible to follow the river into Purfleet and get the train from there.

Its a cache laden stretch with industrial views.  The problem is that I get caught up in the Essex Husky Walking society and the sleet comes in horizontally to make these Arctic dogs feel at home.  Eventually, I wait for all 30 of them to disappear into the distance by pretending to take photos of art installations and the aforementioned concrete barges, which are thankfully on route.

Originally supporting the D-Day landings - now an unneeded flood defence

The Diver by John Kaufman

There's not much of beauty along this stretch, although it's popular with bird watchers.  All there is for me to do is keep the Dartford Bridge on the horizon and attempt to thaw out my freezing fingers between caches.

All Grey and Grim

Once past the RSPB centre, its a short walk into the town and the station.  There is a grand choice of one hostelry to celebrate the end of this 152 mile odyssey.

The website for the Royal Hotel makes a play of its former glory as a Royal Opera house and "it putting the Purfect into Purfleet".  TripAdvisor has a different view, with the majority of reviews poor or terrible, with pictures of mouldy bathroom fixtures.  I found friendly bar staff, no real ales and the Irish residents holding court at the bar and entertaining themselves by holding a swearing competition.

Joined in by ordering a Fecking Guinness

20 minutes to get the train, a tearful farewell to the last of the London Loop green signs and obligatory photo to mark the end.

That's the Loop Done

Click on the hyperlink for a full summary of the London Loop