Stabas two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Stabas here.

This route has less road walking than StaBas One and doesn't include the problematic section on the verge of Southend Rd / B1420. The 'built up areas' sections at either end are shorter and possibly quieter.

The route heads west from Stanford-le-Hope station and crosses over the A13 on a new foot/cycle bridge. Then north to Horndon-on-the-Hill on a wide but now very quiet road which was blocked off when the A13 was built. If you discount this section there is under 3km of road walking in total, it all has pavements. From the village the route goes NE across fields for a couple of miles, through the One Tree Hill area of Langdon Hills Country Park then north through Willow Park (part of Essex WT's Langdon reserve). It comes into Basildon via Lee Chapel Recreation Ground and along quiet residential streets as much as possible. The off road parts use a network of permissive paths shown in the country park maps but not OS maps: from the public footpath at TQ 6905 8544 along the southern boundary of the country park and, further north, joining the country park to the bridleway at TQ 6951 8669 (the edge of Willow Park).

There are public toilets at the One Tree Hill upper car park on One Tree Hill (the country park) at 6.7km, probably open 8am-dusk like the carparks. Google Maps says there is also a mobile cake-van at the weekends. Horndon-on-the-Hill has a small shop and two pubs, despite its small size, but it's about only 22% along the route.

Without testing the route you can still identify a few access obstacles via Street View, including a stile and a short flight of steps at North Hill and an anti-motorbike width restriction leading into Lee Chapel Rec from Sporhams. There will be some fairly steep sections particularly around One Tree Hill.

You could make this route about 1 mile (1.4km) shorter by approaching One Tree Hill via the Morley Hill underpass of the A13, maybe via Branksome Ave which looks fairly quiet. This will increase the total road walking from about 3km to 5km, over half the new length

This route has less road walking than StaBas One and doesn't include the problematic section on the verge of Southend Rd / B1420. The 'built up areas' sections at either end are shorter and possibly quieter.

The route heads west from Stanford-le-Hope station and crosses over the A13 on a new foot/cycle bridge. Then north to Horndon-on-the-Hill on a wide but now very quiet road which was blocked off when the A13 was built. If you discount this section there is under 3km of road walking in total, it all has pavements. From the village the route goes NE across fields for a couple of miles, through the One Tree Hill area of Langdon Hills Country Park then north through Willow Park (part of Essex WT's Langdon reserve). It comes into Basildon via Lee Chapel Recreation Ground and along quiet residential streets as much as possible. The off road parts use a network of permissive paths shown in the country park maps but not OS maps: from the public footpath at TQ 6905 8544 along the southern boundary of the country park and, further north, joining the country park to the bridleway at TQ 6951 8669 (the edge of Willow Park).

There are public toilets at the One Tree Hill upper car park on One Tree Hill (the country park) at 6.7km, probably open 8am-dusk like the carparks. Google Maps says there is also a mobile cake-van at the weekends. Horndon-on-the-Hill has a small shop and two pubs, despite its small size, but it's about only 22% along the route.

Without testing the route you can still identify a few access obstacles via Street View, including a stile and a short flight of steps at North Hill and an anti-motorbike width restriction leading into Lee Chapel Rec from Sporhams. There will be some fairly steep sections particularly around One Tree Hill.

You could make this route about 1 mile (1.4km) shorter by approaching One Tree Hill via the Morley Hill underpass of the A13, maybe via Branksome Ave which looks fairly quiet. This will increase the total road walking from about 3km to 5km, over half the new length