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I walked on a warm, sunny Saturday morning in early May. This is a pretty good route which I’ve marked down for the section around Burnham Road (which may improve soon, see below).

Out of Wickford station, it’s mainly quiet, pavemented streets through suburbia. If you manage to avoid the cul-de-sac traps you end up deposited before St Mary’s church, Runwell.

Heading east on Runwell Road (A132) the pavement is on the north side of the road. When you see pavement on the road's south side, find a break in the traffic and crossover.

The next section is off-road footpaths to Battlesbridge. Across fields and through paddocks until you reach the nexus of the A130, A1245 and the Crouch Valley railway line. Thankfully, the path goes under the road beneath bridges before a simple crossing over the railway tracks (steps on either side).

The path continues through a small woodland before exiting in Battlesbridge close to the Hawk pub (which does food). Battlesbridge railway station is opposite, where you can catch a train back to Wickford or onward to South Woodham Ferrers. It’s pavemented eastwards on Hawk Hill. The mapped route wrongly assumes you can go through the plant nursery on the north side of the road - you can’t. Carry on to the Battlesbridge Antique Centre, taking the Bones Lane entrance. To the north of the pond, there's an easy-to-miss footpath going between buildings (just outside the gate onto Maltings Road). There are a few different opportunities for refreshment in Battlesbridge, if I were you I’d stop here for a drink at the Green Bottle.

The footpath takes you to a bridge over the railway line then onwards to the Burnham Road (A132). You need to cross. This road gets very busy and you may have to wait a while for a break in the traffic large enough to cross both lanes. The route now takes a circuitous path before delivering you back to the A132, where you need to cross again. The England Coast Path proposes clearing a track on the south side of the A132 which will avoid the need for both the circuitous route and the two difficult crossings - look out for that appealing soon!

Back on the south side of the Burnham Road, there’s now a footpath across fields, running largely parallel to the railway line, taking you to a footbridge over to Woodham Fen. This Essex Wildlife Trust reserve can get damp underfoot - and the trail immediately after the footbridge can be a mud bath after wet weather. On the east side of Woodham Fen, there’s an underpass beneath Ferrers Road leading directly to a footway that goes all the way to South Woodham Ferrers station.

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