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London Loop – Hornchurch Country Park to Purfleet, via Rainham.
Saturday 26th September @ 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Time to pick-up from where we left off back in May! as we continue this 150 mile odyssey around the outskirts of London through parks, woods, suburbs and along rivers. It’s never too late to join…but you’d better hurry up (see later!)
We go from Hornchurch Country Park Discovery Centre/Cafe to Purfleet – about 8 miles or so, including a Hill with a View. A chance to drop out at Rainham (Essex). Terrain otherwise is reasonably flat.
Includes an optional visit to Rainham Hall, £6.50/(children £3.25) (National Trust members free)
OR you can, I believe, use their cafe without visiting the property.
Then it’s down along the Thames (not the actual Thames Path which is on the south bank) with a little military and heritage museum (free), which may be open, along the way, and a cafe at the RSPB reserve Visitor Centre outside Purfleet. Pubs in Rainham and, I believe, at the end.
Oh dear, this is, again I believe (but one can never be absolutely sure!) the end of this ‘running’ of the LOOP, as we have come all the way around from Erith on the south bank of the Thames since early 2023. It’s probably time to give it a rest for the next period of years, and go and walk the Great Wall of China, or something…
BUT BUT BUT if anyone has missed a section and wants to walk it privately, or with COPSE (either on the programme or ad hoc when there is a gap in the programme) then of course they can do so, either with or without me! (but I can be an advisor). I leave that hanging in the air…
Meanwhile, meet at East Croydon Rail Stn at 9.00am BST (a bit of an early start 
– particularly by GMT – but probably worth it for a relaxed day in the end).
– particularly by GMT – but probably worth it for a relaxed day in the end).We catch a Thameslink to London Bridge (15 or 21 past the hour would be good), Jubilee Line to West Ham, District Line to Hornchurch Metro,
then a 252 bus to Hornchurch CP (every 10-12 mins, takes a few minutes).
We travel mostly in zone 6…but for the journey home from Purfleet this station is in a bit of a grey area as regards TFL zones BUT you CAN use Oyster pay-as-you-go from here back into London. So I’ll leave you to inquire about how this affects your ticket. Rainham (Essex) is the next station stop towards London and IS in Zone 6, but, of course, we stay on the train (so this is to bear in mind if you need to touch with an Oyster card…this is far less complicated than it may sound, it’ll all fall into place on the day!!).
Paul N (no emails on the day please)
Tel. 07968 223589