Arrived Dog House 12.01, poor beer selection - Doom Bar & Timothy Taylor Landlord - so pressed on. Arrived King's Head in North Weald at 12.40 - more Doom Bar! So again pressing on in the hope of decent ale (& sausages) at the Theydon Oak.

Arrived Theydon Oak 1.45pm. Happily, a fine selection of good ale (& 15 varieties of sausages).

9 in fine and sunny weather. A bridge over a drainage ditch at the end of the marshland, before the first motorway crossing, is on it's last legs. Surprisingly it hasn't yet been closed. If (when) it collapses it will present a problem, as the ditch is much too deep, even when dry for scrambling over. Rather too much road walking in the first half of the walk was offset by a very pleasant second half. Parts of the walk resembled country scenes far away from London until one was brought back to earth by evidence of the national sport of Essex.....burnt out vehicles! Everybody liked their food or drink in The Moletrap but the walk highlight was the beer and cider festival at The Theydon Oak. As many as 200 people in the huge garden with many interesting and affordable brands on offer. Mercifully only a mile or so back to Epping station where we collapsed unto a Central Line tube. Lovely way to spend a Sunday.

Just to let walkers know that on the first 1.5km of this walk, there are two boardwalks which were in poor repair last time it was walked.I have reported this to Essex CC, however be prepared to do some minor scrambling if necessary, This section is also prone to brambles in a couple of locations, so I suggest bringing some secateurs to deal with the little perishers. however the rest of the Walk is obstacle free and pleasantly rural At North Weald, the Epping to Ongar Heritage Railway is also running on the day of the walk and Railway buffs can find the timetable at https://www.eorailway.co.uk/visit/date/02-08-2026/

1 arrived early and waited. Walker number 2 arrived at 10:32. They waited some more but that was it 2 The first bit was not as bad as had been painted .The brambles were well-behaved. They knew their place and were keeping to it. Perhaps news of a threatened secateur attack had travelled ahead.. None were deployed. The bridges were dilapidated but still crossable. The only slight little teeny hitch was a stretch of path obscured by head-high reeds that had to be ‘swum’ through (if you can imagine swimming on dry land). We went slightly adrift here and had to improvise a way back to the motorway tunnel. Eventually, the church at Theydon Garnon was reached. Here, we gave thanks for our deliverance from the brambly reedy place. It’s an old church, with old stuff in and worth a look inside. The Woodhatch ‘pond’ was just a dusty hole in the ground. A brief stop at the Dog House ensued. Cider for 1, mussels for another. There was a sort of non-steam heritage day at North Weald. (No chuffers, cos of the sparks, see). Walker 2 opted to finish the day here with a ride on Derek the Diesel to wherever. Walker 1 continued alone ‘sigh’. The gps for the Theydon Oak spur needs a tweak at the start. The indicated path, just after the motorway, doesn’t seem to exist. Instead, take the well defined path to the left, a bit later. A pleasant stop at the Oak. Sadly, the well-stocked cider board wasn’t noticed until after an Aspalls had been consumed. Got to Epping just in time to step on the 17:20 back to civilisation. A pleasant, often shady walk on a day of mixed sun and cloud Shame there weren’t more on it.

11 at the appointed time and place, caught up later by 2, makes 13 on a day with some cloud mostly sunny The walk’s author, armed with secateurs to tame any obstructions, fell behind and was not seen again. There was a schism at the Doghouse, with picnickers going ahead, leaving the pub goers in their wake. A happy accident there resulted in us getting a free surplus pizza. that didn’t go to waste. 1 of the back group dropped out at North Weald and got a bus. I don’t know of anyone visiting Stephen’s grave, certainly none of the back group. There was a bit of confusion at the turn off for the Oak ending. The path there is very indistinct and involved scrambling through the undergrowth. But we got through and it wasn’t boggy. Let’s hope Mr Snippy’s secateurs set to work on that bit. The Theydon Oak was indeed having a beer and cider festival . Some indulged more than others, but, on the whole, showed admirable restraint. Mmmmm Beesting. After that, a brisk wobble to the station ended another grand day out.

Surprisingly, only 4 for this pleasant walk. A hint of drizzle at the start but that had disappeared by the time we set off. So a dry cloudy day sunny later Pleasant, that is, after an early stretch of builders yards and maybe a motorway or two. The ‘marshy’ bit was dried out and cracked and, apart from the occasional predatory bramble or briar (ow) lurking in the goats rue, was easily traversed. The encroaching vegetation was wet, though, and our trousers got an unscheduled wash. Two stopped at the Doghouse (formerly the Moletrap) which was as pleasant as before. The other two sped on, one eager to watch England, the other just eager. We came across one later, dozing in the grass. He promptly leapt up and continued with us as far as North Weald where he got a heritage bus back to wherever. There was vintage trains chuffing about and we stopped to watch a Thomas-esque engine leave the station. The new ending was fine though I was slightly disappointed not to be going past the Theydon Oak, of which I have fond memories (possibly tinged by last year’s cider and beer festival). The Gernon Bushes was a pleasant enough alternative. Another grand day out.

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.

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.

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

Lovely pics Mike