The only ways to Southend?

Are there any routes to Southend between mostly 70mph (A13 and A127) and mostly 30mph (A129)? There does not seem to be any B-roads or even country lanes heading east-west, is that right?

depends on how direct you wanna go
and where you start of

and why the hell do you want to go there in the first place :smiley:

Speak to National Treasure, he will send you on a 300 mile B Road blast through Fords and Mud fields :slight_smile:

But worth it because of the Hanningford take off strip​:airplane::airplane::airplane::airplane:

Its 96 miles, one ford, one gravel track and the mud fields optional if you insist on straying from the tarmac

High Beech Tea Hut
Buttsbury Ford, never seen more than 2" of water in it
The Hanningfields
The Burnham Bends
Southend via the back door

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/51.6574,0.03696/51.6646,0.03982/51.6708,0.10218/51.6658,0.20017/51.6577,0.265/51.664,0.3241/51.6533,0.3969/51.6586,0.41442/51.6539,0.47013/51.6425,0.50638/51.6629,0.5189/51.6732,0.52623/51.6815,0.55978/51.6987,0.61268/51.7027,0.63369/51.671,0.71799/51.6927,0.80138/51.7129,0.86895/51.6987,0.88135/51.6359,0.81362/51.6169,0.61303/51.6147,0.67987/51.6123,0.7624/51.5819,0.70711/51.5724,0.72319/@51.6365837,0.4676773,11z?hl=en

For some reason Google maps doesn’t like more than 25 waypoints. The last part of the route goes out to Great Wakering and enters Southend via Shoeburyness and Thorpe Bay (give Rachel a nod if you see her)

Hmmm its on the sea so yep one extra way in avoiding those road things
… bit top gearish but …queue the music…

Nice route! I’ve done the bit from Maldon to Abridge (yep, going East-West) before. @ChrisB: didn’t we do this bit last year to finish off the big Essex loop? Think we ran a spot higher through Ingatestone and Blackmore, before hitting Hook End. Was a good route, very rural, windy country lanes. Good fun, but take it easy, some bits were gravelly down the middle, hedges often high and some bends pretty tight.

Anyway, here’s another stretch of route going East:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/14+New+Rd,+Rainham+RM13+9EB,+UK/Berwick+Pond+Rd,+Rainham+RM13,+UK/Bulphan,+Essex,+UK/Parkers+Farm+Rd,+Orsett,+Grays+RM16+3HX,+UK/Orsett+Hall+Hotel,+Orsett/Horndon+on+the+Hill/Dunton+Rd,+Ingrave,+Brentwood,+UK/Little+Burstead/Crays+Hill,+Essex,+UK/Rettendon,+Battlesbridge/@51.5787583,0.4396496,12z/data=!4m62!4m61!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8b064fc02a5b1:0x390a6f538d6c4e0!2m2!1d0.2265545!2d51.5019799!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8ba8ce310c635:0xbf385a8d6bdf2a2d!2m2!1d0.2226098!2d51.5291575!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8b8701464f979:0x13b72d2482086d4a!2m2!1d0.3605997!2d51.5457627!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8b812e274008d:0x559b05e3a16b3dd!2m2!1d0.3585098!2d51.5320659!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8b801ccafe345:0x6136e805ecefafaa!2m2!1d0.378094!2d51.515726!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8c7c226f80bb9:0xebb95c1fcdbcb696!2m2!1d0.4058616!2d51.5237407!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8c74823c1e0b5:0xe0672d185aee3d48!2m2!1d0.3744662!2d51.5919735!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8c0b432a6af5b:0x9f04235645952ec3!2m2!1d0.4056453!2d51.6031588!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8c15592e088bf:0xa0eae304dbf7ea0!2m2!1d0.475256!2d51.601711!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8dcd168c718f7:0x9cb382c76a1c0e9f!2m2!1d0.5705251!2d51.6228925!3e0

Peels off A13 near Rainham, and takes the back roads through Ockendon, Bulphan, Hordon, then skirts Bas-vegas and StickyBilllyRicky. Pick up NationalTreasure’s route once you hit Battlebridge. Quite often do the first chunk as a quick rural blast as a long way home from work on nice evenings.

Only to go somewhere different. In both senses, probably.

Mostly been riding around the nearby east Surrey/west Kent/north Sussex areas, off to north west Essex, or occasionally to Guildford for a nice treat. So Southend and around there seems an obvious gap on my map, and somewhere easy to get to without having to spend forever crossing central London. Besides, living in London there are certain places everyone must go at some point, and I have already been to Brighton.

(I admit the Surrey Hills AONB and it having been sunny whenever going that way has probably warped my idea of Guildford.)

Thanks for the route suggestions, will probably split National Treasure’s into separate Southend and Southminster trips but they sound fun. Best I stay off muddy fields but my first ford sounds more interesting than a flooded road was. And tight high-hedged gravelly lanes should be fine too, back when I was avoiding A-roads I planned routes that saw me end up in all manner of similar places.o

Some must go to places, Essex and beyond clockwise from One O’ Clock

Mablethorpe, sand racing and its free to spectators, check out the dates at http://xtreme-action-images.com/sandrace/dates.html
Hunstanton (Sunny Hunny), proper portions of seaside fish and chips, no need to go large at Fishers.
Great Yarmouth, check out the other Nelsons Column at Monument Road
Lowestoft, the most Easterly point in England, head for Ness Point at the end of Gas Works Road
Walton-on-the-Naze, more of the same seaside fish and chips from Yate’s Fish Bar, not up to Sunny Hunny standards but a good second
Southend-on-Mud, if you really must hold off for The Ace Cafe’s 2016 Southend Shakedown with free to watch live bands, disco and various motorcycle related trade stands

I best just mention an all day breakfast at Bosworth’s The Green Finchingfield, then head off in any direction you like the tarmacs all good.

Last but not least there’s High Beech Tea Hut where an 80p cuppa Rosey Lee will set you back 90p unless the Grandsons whacked it up to a pound a cup. Not in the same league as Walkers Snack Bar but on a par with most other tea huts.

Burnham Bends is a MUST too if in Essex.

If doing Finchingfield then the Hanningfield Loop is a good little route, but just be careful around that area for Agricultural vehicles, and in the summer months the Cyclists

Some great suggestions here, I must try these out too.

@National Treasure it’s 95p a cup at High Beech now. When I mentioned it on Saturday I got a stony silence.

It was a conversation Bradley, the current tea hut lease holder, had with the City of London. A City of London spokesperson commented ‘the days of the 80p cup of tea are gone’. I can’t exactly remember what Bradley’s reply was but it was on the lines of having none of it and not wanting to hike his prices up to line the pockets of the local authorities. Lo and behold tea prices at the hut having been hiked by 5p every couple of months, they’ll probably be on par with fuel costs by the time his lease runs out.

Not that I’m complaining, I’d rather he round it off to a pound anyway, who wants all those 5p he keeps handing out anyway. OK if you have a sack full going I’ll take 'em off your hands but a couple at a time, no thanks.

I just like folk to stand by what they stood for.

Oh yes, forgot mention of The Burnham Bends (well spotted Mymate Marmite) 90 odd 90° bends, well it feels like 90 odd there’s probably only 39. Drop into The Marina at Bradwell on Sea, not literally its fairly deep. Check out the nice cream cabinet, beers, steamy cups of rosey lee, coffee, sandwich selection and cakes. Note winter early closing times apply off season.

Funny you should say Mablethorpe, as I am now planning to go to Skegness instead!

My parents moved to somewhere near there last year and it has occurred to me I am now able to go on the bike, it is only 150-165 miles (depending on whether I avoid the A10). On the train I would take a big camping rucksack, so just need to work out how to secure it to the bike. Got a bag of bungee cords but guessing a net would be better.

Anyway, no Southend trip yet as I had to go to the west side of Essex today, so went via Braintree and Newmarket instead. Maybe next week if the weather is good.

But why is Essex/East Anglia so much nicer and more fun than the Surrey/Kent/Sussex area? Even bikers hardly ever nod there like they do in Essex. Just annoying that it seems to take longer crossing London than spent there.

If you have never been to Skegness - don’t hold yer breath with excitement. It is truly awful.

However best wishes for a pleasant ride wherever you go.

Just saying that there are many many nice seaside venues in the UK and Skeg is not on the list.

It is not by choice!

My parents are a tad further up the coast though, so of Skegness I have only seen the railway station to be picked up and the B&Q to buy door knobs. When I looked at routes options even Google avoids the place, taking a longer route north from Boston then across to join the A52 somewhere north of Butlins.

Sadly from what I have seen, and how it look on maps, the Lincolnshire countryside does not seem it will be an interesting place to explore. Hopefully I may be wrong.