This North Essex walk is one for the nature lovers, taking in four nature reserves. The walk can (and should!) be extended by rambling along the trails within these reserves before re-joining the main route. There’s a variety of terrain; farmland, woodland, meadows, and River Stour estuary and salt marsh. It’s an undulating walk with …
Although a long walk, this flat and peaceful route is easy going. It starts in North Fambridge, ending in Burnham-on-Crouch, with a train journey and short walk back to the start. Most of the walk is an easy to follow 9 miles of seawall along the River Crouch on the Salt Marsh Coast Trail. This is not as repetitive as it might sound. There is plenty of wildlife and as the river approaches the sea it becomes livelier and the surrounding scenery changes.
This well-trodden route offers plenty of coastal views and wildlife to enjoy while being easily accessible by rail and therefore never too far from civilisation. The bustling Thames Estuary is home to marine wildlife, fishing fleets and container ships. As is to be expected then, the walk has numerous examples of urban and wild coexisting. The walking route is busy and suffers from graffiti and litter in places but there’s an abundance of wildlife to make up for it; we were lucky enough to spot an adder!
This walk had so much promise; Jack’s first outing on a beach, fish & chips, WWII defences, eroding headland, fossils, a harbour, and The Naze nature reserve. While we don’t recommend this exact route, there’s still plenty to see around the headland, just make sure you time your trip to co-incidence with low tide for maximum benefit. This particular route had a few eyesores but the main drag for us was the circa. 3 miles of endless, overgrown sea wall next to the reserve; it was just too relentless and monotonous in the summer heat.