London to Amsterdam - Day 3 - Ingatestone to Danbury

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Distance: 17.3 miles

This is the third day of my longest hiking adventure yet. I am hiking from London to Amsterdam.

The hike in England was completed over five weekends in July and August, then during my annual leave in late August I caught a ferry to The Netherlands and hiked the remainder of the journey to Amsterdam.

Today’s 17 mile hike was from Ingatestone to Danbury. In the morning I said my farewells to Anne, the air BnB host I was staying with in Ingatestone. It didn't take long before I was back out in the open fields. I walked past Ingatestone Hall. This hall is only open on certain days of the year in the afternoon. It was closed when I walked past, otherwise I would have gone in as I like to visit attractions on route.

I stocked up on food at the village of Stock (pun intended). It was a Sunday today so I felt I needed to stock up on food before they all shut at 4pm. There were a few pubs and an old windmill in someone's garden in the village.

Hanningfield Reservoir was the highlight of the third day and the next point of interest. It was a huge reservoir in Essex and well worth visiting. There were four bird hides that I checked out and has a rest in one.

The entrance to Hanningfield Reservoir is through a building that is run by Herts and Essex Wildlife Trust. Their opening hours are 10am to 5pm. To get through you will need to pass during their opening hours.

I met two friendly ramblers at South Hanningfield, just past the reservoir. They said they were surprised to see so much water in the reservoir considering how dry it's been. I told them I'm on a long hike and one asked how long? After I shared what I’m doing they were both impressed and one said that I'm on a “serious hike”.

The third day involved a lot more road walking than I'd expected, but it set me up perfectly for the next stage, which would take me along the River Chelmer to Maldon. For that reason I would put the rating of the route down to 3.5.

I visited Danbury Country Park, there were some great lakes here.

I caught the 15 minute bus from Danbury bus stop to Chelmsford. Then I caught a quick train to Stratford. Followed by a Central Line tube train back to Epping where my car was parked. I then drove home. Long way back but it was a good two days hiking!