Essex Walks
These walks explore the open landscapes of Roding Valley Meadows Nature Reserve, with a mix of meadow, woodland and riverside paths.
While the nearby M11 means it’s not completely quiet, the area is rich in wildlife and varied scenery.
The shorter route circles the reserve, while the longer of the walks adds an extra loop over the motorway bridge and into Chigwell Meadows for more distance.
With Loughton Underground Station nearby, these walks are an easy way to enjoy nature close to town.
Download the Essex Walks App to follow these routes with real-time GPS navigation.
Walk information
This first route is a simple stroll around the Roding Valley Meadows Nature Reserve.
The reserve is close to the M11, so it's not the most tranquil of walks in terms of noise, but it's great if you love nature and has a lovely and varied selection of waterside, meadow and woodland walking.
Train Station:
Loughton Underground
Based on 1 user rating
An outstanding walk
Real feedback from people who have completed this walk using the Essex Walks app.
First-hand experiences
Warm dry day if it had been raining would have been slightly muddy but nothing majouy to worry about loads of different views. We will be doing this one again. Great walk
Walk information
This second route is basically the same as the first route, but this option has an extra loop that takes you on a bridge over the M11, and then for a stroll around the Chigwell Meadows to add some extra distance to your walk.
Train Station:
Loughton Underground
Based on 2 user ratings
An outstanding walk
Real feedback from people who have completed this walk using the Essex Walks app.
First-hand experiences
This walk is a real find for us, close to home and wanting a shortish walk which included water. Firstbo time we’ve walked this bit of the Roding valley. Plenty of tarmacced, woodland and grassy paths based around a very large recreational ground and nature reserves on the edge of Loughton. Part of the route followed the Roding with a circuit of a large lake. The detour over the M11 is worth it to see some more nature reserves which look like they were once estate grounds. There were quite a few people out enjoying a warm end of summer day but there’s so much space it’s easy to avoid company.
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The app works without a phone signal, so you can keep following the route wherever the walk takes you.
Explore the area
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