This will be a short walk as I don’t have the whole day. It is raining in short heavy bursts as I follow the footpath that runs off Tinkers Lane on the way out of Rochford. Walking over a muddy field I get slightly lost, until a dog walker points me in the direction of Sutton Church and the incongruous sight of a single gauge railway snaking away into the distance.

I follow it for a while until it stops and I am left with signs indicating a public right of way, but which in reality is a stumble across huge clods of mud churned up by the inconsiderate farmer. The path becomes so unrecognisable at one point that I end up in someone’s back garden worrying about any dogs that might appear. Eventually I find the path to Mucking Hall and across the fields to the dubious joys of Barling and Little Wakering. Long stretches of featureless, colourless houses from the 50’s and 60’s although the pub sign at Barling is attractive.

I am lucky to manage a lunchtime Guinness at the Castle Inn before getting the bus to Southend and back to London.

As I step up into the empty bus the heavens open – I sit down with a smug smile on my face.

Distance: 7 miles