Bursou one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

A functional and direct route between Burnham and Southminster. It’s an easy to follow and safe way to walk. After wet weather, the unpaved parts will have the typical muddiness. I’ve marked it down for the rather dull sections of suburban pavement and the stretch walking parallel to the B1021. I walked it on a dry day in early March.

The route begins with pavemented suburban streets. When Glendale Road meets March Road the route continues on a public footpath directly ahead. This is unpaved, so can get muddy after wet weather. The footpath crosses Pannels Brook by a narrow footbridge and becomes a concrete track going slightly uphill to meet Romans Farm Chase, an unmade farm road. This quickly exits into Mill Road. 



Mill Road has no pavement, so it’s road walking here but it's a low-traffic route. A road sign for Stoney Hills indicates where you need to make a left turn. Do not put off by signs indicating this is a private road as this is a public right of way. This straight road goes largely north, when a westerly bend appears, a public footpath carries on northwards. The path is cannoned between privacy fencing and is wide enough. When the housing on either side peters out there’s a right angle turn eastwards along a fence line, don’t carry on north here onto a private track belonging to Ratsborough Farm.



The next section of the route is more rural and hugs field edges as it skirts around Ratsborough Farm. Southminster begins to become visible to the north. Walkers closely following the public right of way will see that Footpath 15 259 proceeds across the body of a field, but the sensible route here is to follow the east field edge instead.



This footpath ends at a hedgerow and a slightly ramped rise to pavement alongside the Burnham Road (B1021). It now continues pavement to the settlement boundary of Southminster, carrying on to pavemented suburban streets for the rest of the route to the village centre and railway station.

A straightforward route between the two towns with only a short stretch of busy road (mitigated by decent pavement). We didn't stop to explore St Leonard's church near the start (photo 1) but I suspect it'd be worth a diversion if you've time. The finger post indicating the path you should take away from the B1021 soon after leaving Southminster is partially obscured by the hedgerow it leans toward (photo 2), but obvious once you're alongside it.

Walked Southminster to Burnham.
Good direct route, accurate and easy to follow.
Southminster streets, refreshments. A short walk alongside the B1021, on a good all weather off-road path. Then a mix of ‘edge of field’ path and low traffic ‘edge of town’ path almost all the way to Burnham station.

I dropped a star for the traffic on the B1021, but it’s close to 5 stars.

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