Walks you can reach from Benfleet by train

Hilly Essex countryside, ancient and modern woods, flower-rich meadows, farmland, panoramic Thames Estuary views and conservation village.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat coastal path, seaside promenade, harbour, mudflats, beach huts, residential streets, open grassy seafront and army training area margins.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: MOD closures apply.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat Thames Estuary coast path, riverside sea wall, wild flower meadows, salt marsh views, former landfill landscape and brief inland section.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Check tide timings.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Reverse direction: Railwalks.

Flat riverside path, marshland, industrial scenery, flood defences, graffiti art walls, former wharves and Thames views throughout.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Flood risk eastern half.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Recommended: A flat and easy walk, entirely tarmacked.

Coastal: almost all along the coast.

Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk.

Walk details: Railwalks.

Recommended: The views from Leigh on Sea looking out to the sea are beautiful. Quiet woodlands, farm paths, horse yards and pretty residential areas and passing through a nature reserve before reaching the coast at Leigh-on-Sea. Includes a safer crossing of the A127. The route passes through a nature reserve near Hadleigh and goes past a windmill.

Rayleigh Mount (National Trust)

Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Uses a foot and cycle path along the A127 to the Rayleigh Weir roundabout to cross safely.

Rayleigh Mount (National Trust)

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A varied, enjoyable but challenging route with a dull pavement start out of Basildon, then a golf course needing careful navigation, a nature reserve, the England Coast Path, a surfaced country park track to Hadleigh Castle. Much of it is wet and slippery in winter and with clay fields near the end; several short flights of steps and stiles. The coastal section is part of the England Coast Path. Passes the quaint St Margaret's Church with a bench, and ripe blackberries in late summer. Easy and affordable trains from either end.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: The path across the golf course needs careful navigation as marker posts are few and indistinct. Several wet, slippery and muddy sections in winter that are largely unavoidable.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Panoramic views of the Thames Estuary and towards London. A quiet route through the pretty village of Horndon on the Hill, then across gradually rising farmland to Langdon Hills Country Park and up One Tree Hill, with panoramic views of the Thames Estuary. The rest is through more country park and a nature reserve on substantial woodland paths, with the biggest climb to wildflower meadows. Plenty of stiles, kissing gates, narrow gaps, footbridges and steps and potentially muddy paths and ploughed fields. The country park is part of the Langdon Ridge SSSI. The only mid-route facility is the Garage Corner bus stop (about 500m off-route). Horndon-on-the-Hill has a breakfast café, a small shop, a gallery and two pubs.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: Horndon-on-the-Hill (not very near the middle) has a breakfast café, a small shop and two pubs.

Warnings: Wrens Park Farm stables have put an electric fence (taped wires, no gate or stile) across one field and let the eastern stile become very unsafe; walk around the railed-off edge instead, climbing the sturdy wooden railings. Some arable-field paths are poorly re-established; white posts help you navigate. Plenty of stiles, narrow gaps and potentially muddy ploughed fields.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Slow Ways.