Shoeburyness to Southend-on-Sea

It was a lovely day for walking. Sunny but not too warm with a pleasant cooling breeze.

Shoeburyness is an hour’s train journey from London. I went with a friend. We didn’t have any firm plans about the route except to walk along the coast. When we got to Shoeburyness, we asked someone which was the more interesting part of Shoeburyness: east or west. She pointed west. Five minutes later, a couple of locals confirmed this.

My friend had recently gone to Southend-on-Sea and found it extremely busy on a Saturday. This time, going on a Monday, we saw few people around. When we got to Southend-on-Sea, there were locals enjoying the sun on the beach and some were swimming.

Southend-on-Sea has the “longest pleasure pier in the world”. It’s 2km. There’s a small train you can take to the end of the pier or you can walk there. The pier is renowned for hosting one of Jamie Oliver’s cooking shows for Channel 4. When not used for filming, the café is just another place to go to on the pier. The café staff have had so many questions about the show that they have now written an FAQ on the blackboard!

When we got to Leigh on Sea, I had some obligatory chips and we still had some energy to continue on to Benfleet. We didn’t see much of Benfleet but the route there was pleasant and we bumped into some locals doing evening walks.

Shoeburyness to Benfleet walk

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