Saffron Trail
Pier Hill, Southend, SS1 2EQ- Dog Friendly
The Saffron Trail, a 12½ mile walk that takes you through Southend, Leigh, Hadleigh, Rayleigh to Hockley Woods.
The starting point for the Trail starts at top of Pier Hill with a sea-view over Southend Pier. The Royals multi-storey car park is nearby (SS1 1DG).
There are some pleasant parts of this section along the way. Including a long coastal walk, some hilly climbs through Hadleigh Country Park, an easy stroll over farmland and a couple of nice sections through some extensive and rather lovely woods. There is also a fair amount of trudging along residential roads and through soulless recreation grounds, amidst the seemingly endless urban sprawl of Hadleigh and Rayleigh. But don’t worry, there are some delightful pubs and cafes along the route to help keep you going!
The halfway point is at Hadleigh, the route can easily be split as there are a variety of buses that travel back to Southend.