Unusually for a Bank Holiday Monday, the weather was warm and sunny when fifteen members and one guest gathered at Leigh-on-Sea station for a walk through Hadleigh Castle Country Park. After a short stretch of pavement walking, we headed away from the road to a rutted path, fortunately dry but with obvious signs of previous mud. Our way soon started climbing with the ruins of the castle appearing above the trees. We entered its atmospheric domain, wandered around what remained of its fortifications and enjoyed splendid views of the Thames Estuary and Canvey Island.
On the most perfect day, an elite team of 7 walkers started out on our 12.5 mile walk from Battle station. The weather was glorious, sunny & warm with cooling breezes when required.
We started on the 1066 Country Walk which might be worth doing more of as it goes from Pevensey to Rye & sounds lovely. There were several miles of undulating paths in woodland, surrounded by trees with their vibrant spring-green leaves, & birdsong. If any of us had been feeling stressed this would have been the perfect antidote.
The next part was over meadows in a river valley with sheep & lambs enjoying being alive on such a morning, or so I imagined. We had a picnic lunch sitting on some very handy, low brick structures by the Brede Valley Waterworks. The path zigzagged after that for no obvious reason & we made a group decision to scale a gate that was padlocked for absolutely no visible reason & simply led to the lane which we needed to walk along. However, it had a vicious line of barbed wire over the top rung so we were forced to abandon our vote for freedom of movement & follow the official line.
This was undoubtedly the most challenging section so far with a complicated journey to reach the start point, and thirty two stiles!
Section seven passes through relatively low lying but undulating and sparsely populated terrain. The only settlements are the hamlet of Stalkers Lane and the tiny village of Chidingly, our lunch stop, with its interesting church and charismatic pub. Continue reading Vanguard Way sections 7 and 8 -18 April 2026→
Although still April, the weather was sunny and warm for our Erith to Bexley walk, and I really appreciated Tizi’s kind offer of a sunhat to wear. After a little hiccup, we made it from the station to the path by the Thames, and started off on our waterside walk. The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge was often in view on this section. Firstly, we walked by the Thames, then by the River Darent, and finally the Cray, with its field of reeds. Continue reading Erith to Bexley – Saturday 25th April→
3 rivers- Thames, Darent and Cray. Mostly easy, level walking- firm paths and tracks, one stile, passing Queen Elizabeth II bridge, Darent flood barrier, Littlebrook power station and Hall place park. Dep. London Bridge 10.06 arr. Erith 10.44. All travel within zone 6. Lunch tbc. EX 162. Leader : Jackie McCartan
Photo: Claire Stretch / Queen Elizabeth II Bridge / CC BY-SA 2.0
