Day 27 – Friday 29 September 2000 - Benfleet to Benfleet – circular walk around Canvey Island

14.5 miles walked today

356 miles walked in total (average 13.18)

I woke up with the alarm at six o’clock this morning – it was very difficult getting up as I’ve been on holiday for a fortnight and have been getting up when I like – at a much more civilised hour.  I dropped Andy off at work in Havant for seven o’clock and made my way to Benfleet Station, arriving at nine o’clock, ready to start walking.

Canvey Island is reached just over the bridge from the station and I was immediately on the wrong footpath!  I met an old boy in Benfleet Yacht Club who soon redirected me to the correct path.  He leads the local ramblers’ group and gave me a few hints about the best routes.  Apparently, they’re having trouble with a local landowner who’s refusing access to the public rights of way on his farm so I need to make a few detours.

I walked initially on roads to the town centre and walked until Leigh Beck when I got onto the sea wall past some very nice houses for a mile or so.  The path goes right round the island passing all the oil storage depots and jetties, going under the jetties using tunnels and over them using footbridges.

The morning’s walking was fantastic.  To be honest, I’d dreaded walking around Canvey Island, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

Lunch was taken at the Lobster Smack, a very pretty weatherboarded pub slap bang in the middle of Hole Haven!

The path I walked – the Millennium Trail – looked across to Coryton, one of the scenes of the recent fuel crisis, when fuel depots across the country were blockaded by hauliers and farmers due to the high price of petrol and diesel.  I’m fairly sure that the blockade at Coryton was one of the last to go.  Being one of the privileged few who gets their diesel paid for by their employer, I was still fully behind the action taken.  Until it meant I nearly couldn’t go on holiday, of course!  But I think that’s how most people felt – or at least the majority of people interviewed on the news broadcasts.

The path back to Benfleet Station was incredibly peaceful and quite well trodden.  Especially by cows.  Things got a bit tricky when I saw maybe a dozen of them on the path, but they soon turned tail and fled at my approach.

I’ve really enjoyed today and am well pleased with the mileage covered.