The Brief
I had one more hike left to do in the series and, one more day in which to do it. That was new years eve, it seemed like a great idea, I don’t party anymore and I love hiking. Benfleet to Shoeburyness, I have done it a few times now, maybe I am too comfortable with it for it to be a real challenge. I checked the Southend website and they were putting on a fireworks display, I knew then I could time it to come back to the seafront and see the new year in. I left for Leigh on Sea around 4:45, got there an hour later and discovered I’d left my walking boots at home. I changed the route accordingly as the original Hadleigh route takes you across the sea wall which is potentially muddy. It added a further 3 minutes to the journey, it wasn’t very scenic. I jumped on the train at Leigh to make my way to the start point of Benfleet and got there 5 minutes later, knowing that I would pass Leigh 1 hour and 40 minutes later. As I did, I passed my car and got a sinking feeling that leaving my car in a open station car park until the early hours of the morning would add to my anxiety.
I made may way towards Shoeburyness and by the time I could see Chalkwell station (the next stop after Leigh), I thought, I could jump on the next train in 4 minutes, travel 2 minutes back to Leigh, pick up the car and drive back to Chalkwell and park it on the seafront in front of a residential area and feel more comfortable. 20 minutes and £1.90 later I was back on track and heading to Shoeburyness. Apart from the savage wind and the darkness, Southend was quite empty and there were even less people as I passed through. By the time I reached Shoeburyness, there weren’t any people other than 2 people getting out of a car in the distance. I made my way up to MoD fence on the beach, put my feet in the north sea and then made my way back. When I reached Southend or Highcliff, it was packed, which made me feel better only because I knew then the fireworks weren’t cancelled. When midnight came around the display itself was very good, just a shame it was so windy the fireworks couldn’t get up in the sky very high. I also got to speak to Lucas. Once it was all done, I still had a few miles to walk back to my car in Chalkwell. Totally worth it though.
It was a great way to see in and start the new year.
The only photos my cold fingers could take
The route and back on myself