Avesou two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Avesou here.

EDIT
There's a serious problem with this route between the South Ockendon start and the motorway crossing. Don't use it. The rest is fine except for the the golf course signage, and I'm uploading a fix.

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This is a very green and off road route, nearly 80% off road and using large and often wild open spaces. After leaving Aveley it passes between playing fields, then across Belhus Park Golf Course (private), Belhus Chase (Woodlands Trust), very briefly enters Belhus Woods Country Park (Thurrock Council ) then a footbridge over the M25 and through Little Belhus Country Park (council again).

I'm fairly confident this will be a good route with minimal twists and turns using the "trunk paths" (pun intended) through the woods and wild spaces. But... I'm a stickler for accurate GPS and this might not be quite up to scratch. 1) The public footpath through the Golf Course is poorly used, probably not well defined and access through the fence looks possible but unfriendly, the path line is beneath a line of trees running north from the road turn-off, so hopefully no need to wander onto the greens. 2) Woodlands Trust don't publish an online map showing their paths. 3) Thurrock Council don't publish an online map for either C Park. I have cross referenced signs of use from Strava Heatmaps, Open Street Map trails, an old map from a blog and official maps of adjacent sites. Hopefully the reviewers will iron out any problems if needed.

Possibly not accessible for wheelchairs/buggys, non "surfaced" paths, and the access through the Golf Course (see photo) but the M25 footbridge looks to have a ramp, not steps. And there seems to be a (casually permissive) path past the Club House and then north beside the M25 before rejoining at the footbridge. It's a very short route, but you might be able to eat at the Golf Course, and South Ockendon station is on the route too. Compared to AveSou 1 this route is only 170m longer, and that only has short off road sections through the playing fields and then a few very small green spaces tucked amongst the residential areas of South Ockendon. But AveSou 1 does go past shops at Derry Ave, and the footbridge also has a ramp.

There are several Slow Way routes like AveSou 1 round here, along roads when very off-road alternatives exist, as there are many country parks, publicly accessible woodlands and long distance paths/cycle routes such as beside Rainham Marshes (DagAve), or the Mardyke Way (AveGra), perhaps sometimes because permissive paths are not differentiable from private ones on Ordnance Survey maps.

Credit and thanks to http://www.mdewell.com/LittleBelhus/ for the 5 year old map of Little Belhus Country Park and the Explore Essex website

EDIT
There's a serious problem with this route between the South Ockendon start and the motorway crossing. Don't use it. The rest is fine except for the the golf course signage, and I'm uploading a fix.

*******

This is a very green and off road route, nearly 80% off road and using large and often wild open spaces. After leaving Aveley it passes between playing fields, then across Belhus Park Golf Course (private), Belhus Chase (Woodlands Trust), very briefly enters Belhus Woods Country Park (Thurrock Council ) then a footbridge over the M25 and through Little Belhus Country Park (council again).

I'm fairly confident this will be a good route with minimal twists and turns using the "trunk paths" (pun intended) through the woods and wild spaces. But... I'm a stickler for accurate GPS and this might not be quite up to scratch. 1) The public footpath through the Golf Course is poorly used, probably not well defined and access through the fence looks possible but unfriendly, the path line is beneath a line of trees running north from the road turn-off, so hopefully no need to wander onto the greens. 2) Woodlands Trust don't publish an online map showing their paths. 3) Thurrock Council don't publish an online map for either C Park. I have cross referenced signs of use from Strava Heatmaps, Open Street Map trails, an old map from a blog and official maps of adjacent sites. Hopefully the reviewers will iron out any problems if needed.

Possibly not accessible for wheelchairs/buggys, non "surfaced" paths, and the access through the Golf Course (see photo) but the M25 footbridge looks to have a ramp, not steps. And there seems to be a (casually permissive) path past the Club House and then north beside the M25 before rejoining at the footbridge. It's a very short route, but you might be able to eat at the Golf Course, and South Ockendon station is on the route too. Compared to AveSou 1 this route is only 170m longer, and that only has short off road sections through the playing fields and then a few very small green spaces tucked amongst the residential areas of South Ockendon. But AveSou 1 does go past shops at Derry Ave, and the footbridge also has a ramp.

There are several Slow Way routes like AveSou 1 round here, along roads when very off-road alternatives exist, as there are many country parks, publicly accessible woodlands and long distance paths/cycle routes such as beside Rainham Marshes (DagAve), or the Mardyke Way (AveGra), perhaps sometimes because permissive paths are not differentiable from private ones on Ordnance Survey maps.

Credit and thanks to http://www.mdewell.com/LittleBelhus/ for the 5 year old map of Little Belhus Country Park and the Explore Essex website