Essex Man Does Walking

Total Distance: 11.2 miles

Summary

Monday I was still a little frazzled by too much drinking on Saturday, so I wisely opted for Tuesday as the day to do this walk. It continues on from my last Coastal Path walk which ends up at Shoeburyness. It takes you into Great Wakering, over Wakering Common, around the sea wall ending at Barling Creek. I then have to do a few more miles to get to a train station!

A detailed look

I dropped off my son at school, headed back home and got changed for the walk. I walked to Leigh on Sea train station, it was certainly a great looking day. The late train got into Shoeburyness at 10:05am and I headed left out of the station towards the crossroads where I last left the coastal path.

From here you continue North up the road with houses on one side and the MOD facility on the other.

The houses end and you walk along a fairly narrow, slightly overgrown pavement beside the road. Reassuringly I see my first Coastal Path sign.

Coming to a busy junction you head straight over up a lane towards a farm and then over a field and through an alley until you get to Great Wakering. From here you turn right and head towards the church and then head left past the pond and towards Wakering Common.

From this point onwards I think I only passed 4 people till I got to the creek! Amazingly quiet. I imagine that Wakering Common is usually full of dog walkers but I only see one. There look to be lots of lovely trails off the main route into wooded areas but I head straight on the trail. You reach a gate and the trail heads left up a road towards Oxenham Farm with a stream beside you. Walking through the farm you turn right and head towards the sea wall. From here you can see the bridge which goes over to Havengore Island, part of which is MOD owned.

From here it is a lovely walk along the sea wall, the muddy marshes and creeks to one side and the other a series of ponds and connected waterways which are frequented by many birds. You pass the Great Wakering Scout hut which looks to be an excellent place to do water activities. The trail then bends around and back on itself before you pass some Houseboats and Wakering Boatyard.

It is around this point that the trail is fairly overgrown with cow parsley but there is an easier way that runs parallel so I headed over to that. There is another bridge in the distance and you head up one side of it and through more undergrowth to pass it by. It heads over to Potton Island another MOD owned island which was once considered to be a Nuclear Waste site.

The trail becomes far less overgrown now, heading out to the junction of Potton and Barlinghall Creek before bending round and heading back parallel to the trail we walked up. You get glimpses of All Saints Church in Barling in the distance and the air strip. The trail bends back westwards as Fleethead Creek ends and Little Wakering Creek continues.

That creek continues on and Little Wakering comes into view. Eventually you reach the end of the creek. The trail continues around the other side of the creek but that is enough for this walk! Sadly, I now have a bit of a walk along pavements besides busy roads, sort of spoils the walk. Perhaps I should have got the bus from here.