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Theydon Bois to Epping walk

An Essex walk with a heritage railway station within easy reach of London

Essex

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date Option Post # Weather
Sat, 27-May-23 Theydon Bois to Epping 21 hot sunny
Sat, 27-May-23 : Theydon Bois to Epping 21
Margaret
Margaret
Theydon Bois to Epping

Length 15.5 km (just under 10 miles)

Toughness: 3 out of 10

Trains: Take a tube train to arrive at Theydon Bois Station by 10.30am. Theydon Bois and Epping are both in Travel Zone 6 and are on the Epping branch of the Central Line so you will need an appropriate travel or Oyster card for your journey. Trains are very frequent.

This new walk passes through scrub and marshland before ascending to All Saints Church at Theydon Garnon. From there, an old Roman Road follows and eventually arrives at the tiny Mount End Hamlet. Here it skirts Beachet Wood and leads to the Hamlet of Woodhatch, Tawney Common, where the Moletrap Pub makes for an early refreshment/lunch stop. After some gentle walking, you come to North Weald, where there's a heritage (steam) train station and cafe. Note: the steam trains are running on Saturday so use the footbridge or cross the level crossing with care.

Soon after the station, you reach the King's Head pub, the second pub lunch option. The route then passes close to Roughtalley's Wood (GreenAcres), a little piece of old Epping Forest where Stephen Backes, who walked with the SWC and North East London Ramblers, is buried. The instructions include directions if you wish to visit his grave. The route from then on is mainly through a mix of woodland and open fields and passes the third and final pub of the day (and the recommended "tea" stop), the Theydon Oak in Coopersale, with it's pleasant garden.

There will also be an NELR group doing this walk today, starting at 10am and lunching at the King's Head

Refreshments

Woodhatch, Tawney Common: Moletrap Pub (booking essential, 01992 522810).

North Weald Station: there's the Anglia café (serves a range of hot and cold drinks and light refreshments) and also some picnic tables.

North Weald, High Road: The Kings Head (booking essential, 01992 525001)

Afternoon refreshment. Coopersale: The Theydon Oak (01992 572618, booking essential if you plan a late lunch there)

These walks don't have a leader so you'll need to download your copy of the directions from the L=swc.409 page.

  • 28-May-23

    There were at least two groups on today’s commemorative walk and, though there were about 16 of us at the station, some SWCers left earlier with the ramblers group. This made counting difficult but, using the formula “fingers, toes, add one”, I reckon we were about 21 all in (not including the sizeable Ramblers group). The groups walked separately but, inevitably, there was some fraternisation.

    A pleasant walk on a hot sunny day. through marshland, ancient woodland and fields, with buttercups, cow parley, resplendent hawthorn, the works. Ground firm underneath (though in a wet season, this would have been different).

    It was important to pay more attention to the GPS than the sparse guidance notes, which don’t document every twist and turn, (of which there were plenty). Mr Tiger might well have succumbed to the L-word had he not been in the company of others.

    The main lunch stop, the Mole Trap was fine.

    Some sat by the village pond and ate sandwiches. There was a second lunch stop at North Weald where some visited the cafe and others just sat and watched vintage trains and buses come and go.

    After the lunches, some took the detour into GreenAcres to pay their respects. More fields and woods followed until the Theydon Oak was reached.

    Mr Tiger had hoped for a quiet end to the day, maybe a sip or two of something restorative. Imagine his disappointment when he discovered a beer and cider festival in full swing. It was felt necessary to sample several beverages. Slack ma Girdle, Gladiator, were delicately quaffed. just modest halfs, you understand. The most alarming was a ‘scrumpy’ that could have passed for vegan chicken soup. It tasted of apples so he drank that as well.

  • 29-May-23

    Having thanked Mike for this new walk with other contributors Mike said

    ‘ I just designed the route to be a annual memorial walk for Stephen aka Bridie for walkers who knew him in SWC and my North East London Ramblers Group. However, it turns out that 21 turned up from SWC, 25 from my NELR ramblers group. There were your mates in that count too. Open toed sandals - cool! Anyhow because there's been lots of positive feedback, I'm writing full instructions for the route which I'll drop onto the SWC website when complete. Like Hever to Cowden, it's a summer walk and will be a mud fest in the rainy winter months. Thanks for feedback.’Mike

    West Essex ramblers also fielded another 20 or so walkers. No mud- going was easy enough and a choice of pubs plus the steam train cafe. What’s not to like.

  • 30-May-23

    There's a few photographs from this walk at https://www.flickr.com/photos/181765680%40N08/albums/72177720308673797

    Happy to add others you might like to offer

  • 30-May-23

    Lovely pics Mike