Chelmsford Centenary Circle

Sandon to Writtle

Monday 9th July 2018

Garmin GPS data

Distance	Time		Elevation in meters
Km	Elapsed Hrs-Mins	Moving Hrs-Mins	Gain	Loss	Min	Max
20.57	5H05	4H15	77	77	17	56

 

The Starting Point - St. Andrew's Church, Sandon. From here the route goes
down Brick Kiln Lane to the Maldon Road.

Turning left on the Maldon Road you can either take a diagonally path across the field, or go a little
bit further and walk down Sandford Mill Lane. The diagonal route is the official path,
but it depends on the condition of the field that you have to cross.

The waymarker, indicating the diagonal route across the field.

The diagonal path in January 2018

The path today, dry and overgrown

At the bottom of Sandford Mill Lane a small bridge takes you over a branch of the River Chelmer.
After this the route turns right into Brook End Road before reaching Sandford Mill Lock on
the Chelmer & Blackwater Canal.

Sandford Mill Lock. Turning right along the canal here, towards Maldon, the route passes under the
A12 and follows a direction parallel to the A12. Traffic noise increases as the A 12 gets closer. The
canal tow path does an almost 90 degree turn to the right, and the Centenary Circle branches off
here on a path which goes underneath the A12.

Leaving the A12 and heading to the underpass of the A12

A12 underpass

The route continues up a road called Townsend, alongside new houses. Here the route is not so
clear and it is easy to make a mistake. The official route vers off to the right and comes out at
Sainsbury's Roundabout; we continued straight and came out onto Chelmer Village Way. We
debated whether to go back, but decided that it would be easier to carry on past B&Q and to
go down Colchester Road.

Map data @2018 Google

The path goes off to the right before the roundabout

Footpath to the right of the houses

The tree-lined entrance to New Hall School

New Hall School

Back on track again, just to the right of New Hall School entrance

Really dry fields as we head out into the countryside again towards Broomfield

The stretch behind New Hall School as we headed towards Essex Regiment Way

We were soon in the middle of a building site that is the extension to Beaulie Park housing

This path led to Essex Regiment Way, which we crossed and joined a smaller road behind it. Here
we turned to the left for a short distance before regaining the path towards Broomfield.

Crossing two bridges over the River Chelmer as we approached Mill Lane

We took a small snicket off Mill Lane which led to Broomfield Football Club

Broomfield Football Club.... a good place for lunch on the benches provided. After that we emerged
onto the Broomfield Road, near the Broomfield Library. A short walk to the right along the B1008
saw us taking the path opposite the entrance to Mill Lane.

The path arced to the right crossing a small road until we came to a second small road, by Brickbarns
Farm on Mashbury Road. Here the direction was not so clear. We should have taken a route which
comes out on the Chelmsford side of the Horse and Groom Pub on the Rainsford Road, but we
managed to take another path which came out at the roundabout opposite Lordship Lane.

Map data @2018 Google

Lawford Lane soon changes to a dirt track and ends up in the centre of Writtle