Incredible 81 mile walk from a London tube station to underrated coast town

They say “the Only Way is Essex”, but long before the hit reality TV show hit our screens in 2010, there was another “way” at the heart of the county now notorious for being the birthplace of the “vajazzle”.

The Essex Way, to be precise. An 81-mile footpath that snakes its way from the edge of London‘s urban conurbation at Epping Tube station, through undulating farmland and ancient woods to the coast of north-east of the county at Harwich.

The route takes walkers along tree-lined river valleys and leafy green lanes, passing historic towns, villages and oddities along the way.

It offers a glimpse into a county that has so much more than the “bling” restaurants and bars that have made up the backdrop of TOWIE for the past 14 years.

At 81 miles, it clearly can’t be done in a day on foot and seasoned walkers may even find 20 miles a day for four days a challenge.

A five or six day trip, stopping overnight along the way may be a more leisurely way to enjoy the sights and sounds.

The great thing is, it can also be split into sections and done over several attempts rather than in one stretch.

The long-distance track is well sign posted and Essex County Council has produced a helpful guidebook with maps of the sections page by page.

The route often crosses the route of a straight Roman road that once stretched from London to Colchester.

The guidebook states: “The Essex Way was conceived as the result of a competition funded by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) in 1972.

“It has quickly been accepted into the fabric of the county and become folklore for future generations.

“Epping is the last stop on the Central Line of the London Underground system which makes it ideal for beginning the Essex Way from London.”

The walk first takes you through a separated remnant of Epping Forest called Gernon Bushes, which flowers bright with pink and purple in spring due to wild Rhododendrons growing there.

After the village of Toot Hill and before the first town, Chipping Ongar, walkers pass a church at Greensted famous as it is thought to be the oldest wooden church in the world, dating to about 645 AD.

Ongar has a ancient 55-feet high Motte-and-Bailey castle site and a Titanic memorial to Father Thomas

Byles of St Helen’s Church Ongar, who was on the fateful ship, but died after refusing to take a lifeboat, instead, choosing to stay with the 3rd class passengers left behind, to offer them comfort.

From Ongar you walk along the banks of the River Roding, which begins at Marshall Green near Stansted Airport and flows 43 miles south to the River Thames at Barking Creek.

The walk stretches past the site of Willingale Airfield, used between June 1943 and July 1944 as a base for 2000 US Airforce personnel.

In the village of Willingale there are curiously two churches in one graveyard.

The Essex Way passes along many green lanes, remnants of a once vast network of minor roads dating back to Saxon times an beyond.

Some are almost tunnel like in the summer as leaves grow overhead and they are a valuable refuge for wildlife in the hedgerows which can include orchids.

The route is steeped in history and along the way there are windmills, a church with a round tower, a huge railway viaduct and lighthouses and villages with names such as Good Easter, Coggeshall and Pleshey, which has one of the finest Norman castle earthworks in England.

The greater outer rampart and ditch encloses the entire village of about 40 acres.

Cressing Temple was the earliest English settlement of the Knights Templar, the legendary Order of warrior-monks. Legend says they were given the Manor of Cressing in 1137 and two amazing barns still survive.

The route then walks along a section of the River Colne. Walkers come to the Dedham vale area on the border with Suffolk, which has long been associated with painter John Constable, who was brought up in the area, immortalise its landscape in his paintings.

The remarkable two towers at Mistley are another grand historical feature on the walk.

For those who make it into Harwich, it is more than just a port town and is full of history, including at Dovercourt Bay a pair of strange-looking iron lighthouses built in 1863.

The Electric Palace Cinema is Britain’s oldest purpose-built cinema, while the Naval Redoubt is a circular fortification built during the Napoleonic Wars to protect the harbour against the French.

Half Penny Pier has a 19th century ticket office, which was a departure point for steamships to Europe.

Harwich Beach is near the historic town on the estuary of the rivers Stour and Orwell.

It is not a bathing beach, but is an example of an emerging dune system, where the coast is predominately saltmarsh. It is ideal for a walk along the seashore in this underrated town, but if you have just completed the Essex Way, that is unlikely to be at the top of the to do list.