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.

We moved on, besides a rare breeds centre with glimpses of goats and sheep, which brought us into the Country Park and on to its visitor centre where we stopped for lunch. Suitably refreshed, we headed downhill in the company initially of numerous cyclists using the mountain bike facilities built for the 2012 Olympics. At the bottom of the hill, two of our number decided to turn left back to Leigh to purchase some fish for supper! The rest of us turned right and headed along a path alongside the railway to Benfleet where most of us we enjoyed well-deserved refreshment at the Hoy & Helmet pub before catching a train back to London.

Report by Danny, Photos courtesy of Ida Kwan