The first part out of Romford is along quite grey roads but the rest of the way is green and pleasant....

Strider

Beyond the lovely Harold Wood Park and a brief flirtation with the London Loop the walk takes on a decidedly rural feel. The stiles before you cross the M25 by road bridge were in poor repair and lower lying sections of path were decidedly boggy....

David Sanderson

The crossing used on this route has a central refuge but no lights, so requires a little care - there is a pelican crossing to the north but it is some distance from the route (see RomBre two). This route takes the first easy entrance into Tyler's Common, and used well used paths to reach the north-east corner....

Hugh Hudson

Back out of the Park and along a quiet road past a visitors centre (café) and along a track to Hook Hall Farm. Then Rush Green Road, a busy road to cross with crossing points, the lights seem to take ages. A suburban road takes you to Queen's Hospital grounds where the bridle path is sign posted....

Strider

This route is good and well mapped except for two parts. One where it turns through a hedge and fences over private land. Two where walking alongside a busy road can be avoided....

Strider

I started from Romford and encountered a lot of queueing traffic on Mawney Rd, I checked a parallel route via Mildmay Rd, much quieter, but not worth a new route. She also mentions that on Thursdays there is an enormous car boot sale on the route between Marks Gate and the A12....

Daisy C

While it is just good enough to pass, I think a better route can definitely be found....

Dan Barron

Nice parks and golf courses. Not easy to navigate, poor signage on golf courses, and hidden turnings. Despite the positives this was a difficult walk, which would be slightly better in summer...

Strider

Over half the route is off-road, mostly through a a chain of publicly owned bits of land (local councils and Forestry England) which are part of the fantastic Thames Chase cross-boundary woodland creation and habitat linkage project. It's a shame about the un-pavemented road walking on Mascalls Lane but traffic and verges seemed better than the alternative on Nags Head Lane in RomBre 1. Brentwood is at the top of a hill, and there are a few other fairly gentle / short hills until Harolds Wood, then it's flat into Romford....

Daisy C

That said, while it's a very practical walk, a few (personal) issues:....

Ingrina

Lots of hustle and bustle alongside a busy car filled road with lots going on. Two is direct with road crossings and street furniture by a busy road for those in a hurry or enjoy shops and cafes....

Strider

There always seems to be something to see, but this gradually peters out as you approach The Havering Stone (a boundary stone). The edge of Romford is comparably leafy and this builds up, as do the buildings, to the Brewery (a shopping centre)....

David Sanderson

There are two points where there is an element of danger in the road crossings - the worst is Aldborough Road South, where I saw at least one car turning left at speed without indicating....

Hugh Hudson

I found this new approach going up Sunnings Lane from online research but when I tried it a couple of weeks ago I hit a long bit of path overgrown with brambles to the point it was impassable. It's quite possible there is a way around, Strava heat maps, some possible interpretations of OS and OSM maps and Google maps aerial view all hint at it....

Daisy C

I tested this over a couple of visits, in a variety of directions while I've been looking for a route that actually works. There are some really lovely parts of this walk, it has a wonderful chain of green spaces along the two rivers, but also a lot of route planning limitations further east. There's an accessibility gap to the E and N of the greenspaces around Belhus Country Park. I see how someone would have hoped this was a good possibility. It has several serious problems though, two are serious enough that the route just doesn't work as a Slow Way. Hopefully RomSou 2 fixes those big problems and several minor niggles, but it hasn't been fully tested.. 1) The section just east of the M25 leading to the footbridge is impassable. Little Belhus Country Park is still being converted from landfill and this bit has no public access.....

Daisy C

This is effectively the only green part of this route, the remainder being all side streets and busy main roads and currently there is no sensible alternative....

Liz R

Walk a short way along the road to a crossing place. A short walk alongside a busy road to a roundabout with a crossing refuge in the middle of the road. There is an opening through the hedge with bollard (again narrow) by the roundabout taking you across Hainault Recreation Ground and Playing fields, you may need to walk around the pitches if games are being played....

Strider

This route walks through houses, flies over busy roads, misses subways and goes through locked gates....

Strider

Starting off I took the detour, as suggested by the previous reviewer, and quickly found long residential streets going gently uphill through Emerson park. Undeterred I carried on and crossed another pathless grass field to a small bridge over a stream. Back across the bridge I walked for 400m before I found a low fence and a place to leap the stream, another 700m and over another fence got me back to the marked path on the other side of the scrub, and yes, totally blocked that way too....

Strider

There is a nice new station followed by a nice pedestrian shopping precinct in Ilford. Then a long straight residential road, Goodmayes Park, then a long straight residential road, an unnecessary detour through Valence park then a long straight residential road followed by a long straight residential road....

Strider

From Chigwell station the route takes you through a well-kept residential area past a church and then along a footpath through a small green. The route then takes you through some quiet residential areas up to the main road (New North Road) close to Hainault station. The route then takes you through another residential area which has a nice play park, outdoor gym and basketball court. The route then takes you away from the residential area and through Warren Farm....

Carla Khouri

Once you’re out of Romford town centre the route tries to keep you off the main roads for the majority of the way up to the park, walking through well kept residential streets. This has lots of flat open grass, an outdoor gym and two play areas (one either side of the park). It's a good place to let the dog off the lead for a run or let the children play in the play areas)....

Carla Khouri

After downloading the gpx file and uploading it to OS Maps we followed the route in reverse as the gpx route went from Brentwood to Romford. The first part of the walk is along straight residentials roads for approx 2 miles from Romford station, past Gidea Park and towards Hornchurch where the road meets a dual carriageway (A127). There appears to be footpaths on the map that take you into Tyler's common but these were overgrown and inaccessible when we walked the route so we had to walk along the road for a while. At the end of Nags Head Lane you turn right onto Brook Street which continues onto London road towards Brentwood passing some shops and pubs. The route takes you right at Westwood Avenue through a residential area via Brentwood station and then back towards the town center. After passing the station and walking up the hill on Queens Road, the route takes you left onto at Thomas road....

Carla Khouri

At the other end of the route the map shows a footpath through the industrial estate opposite West Horndon station. We found an unlocked gate to the left of the path (100m away) and were able to cross the estate to the station....

Truz99