Essex Man Does Walking

Last Thursday was a lovely day when I had planned to do this walk but….my Son was off school so that scuppered that. SO instead Rob and I decided we would do this today. It was raining heavily. Rob seemed unfazed and not wanting to show any signs of weakness I said of course!

The route consisted of walking through Belfairs Wood and joining up with the Saffron Trail (which ends up in Saffron Walden 65 miles later). This then meets the Roach Valley Trail until it hits the Coastal Path at which point we head across some public footpaths and back down the brook home.

• Distance: 12.64 miles
• Time: 3.5-4 hours
• Total Ascent: 357ft

It was raining heavily as we started, wandering along the Brook towards Belfairs. Along the way greeting people cheerily with ‘Lovely Day isn’t it…’. Delusional. At least the woods gave us a bit of cover and for once it was not too muddy.

We headed out of the woods and towards the A127 crossing over close to KFC (yes the thought was in my head) and through a wooded area and across the Oak Wood Park. It was here that we got our first look of the Saffron Trail marker.

Heading through a built up area we cross what looked like a tributary of the River Roach and crossed over Rayleigh Road. We then headed up Macmurdo Road before turning left onto a footpath behind some houses. We then walked across Edwards Hall Park before turning left onto a road and walking towards the outskirts of Cherry Tree Orchard Jubilee Park.

There are a number of routes you could take here and we opted to walk alongside the lake as opposed to the circuitous route on the map. This eventually joins up with the Roach Valley Way (A circular walk of 23 miles).

From here you walk alongside the River Roach (alarmingly high water!) before heading up some steps and over Cherry Orchard Way. Walking through the sports fields and across a small bridge we then headed straight across a field and onto Hall Road which heads into Rochford. The route heads up past the square and then back down towards the Horse and Groom pub. Here you turn left onto a path that carries on beside the River Roach and this is where it became tricky….

With little choice (ok we could have headed around this by walking on the pavement to the Anne Boleyn and down but we were wet already) and full of bravado I walked into the water which went over my boots straight away. In for a penny….in goes the other boot. I hear Rob cursing behind me and then we both squelch off in search of dry land.

Eventually we find some, coming in sight of the old Stambridge Mills. From here the path meets the Coastal Path which I hope to do when it is sunnier! We turned off and through Purdeys Way Industrial estate before crossing over where there is a sign for a footpath to Temple Farm. You head over a couple of fields where there is a footpath but you can never see it, so trust the map. Eventually you get to the other side and a sign confirms you were indeed right! From here it is through another estate and up Sutton Road past the cemetery.

At the top head right towards and through Priory Park (Where they are preparing for the Oktoberfest) and onto the Prittlewell Brook Path. From here it was an easy walk back to the beginning although the legs and hips had started to ache suggesting I need to do more walking than just back and from school with Will.

Not a bad walk, the rain had eased off and we had dried up a bit except for our feet. It took us about 3.5 hours but we walk fairly fast. Time for a cuppa! Or a homebrew. Cannot decide.