Sunday morning was bright and sunny as people arrived from various parts of London to gather at the meeting point outside Upminster station. The lovely spring weather had obviously provided a good incentive to be out on the bike as there were a total of 26 cyclists. Due to the large number of people it was decided to split the group into two for the first part of the ride, with first group led by Dave with Caroline’s group following shortly after.

The first part of the ride took us along the quiet residential roads of Upminster towards the start of the Ingrebourne Valley, which is a traffic free route created as a result of a Sustrans Connect 2 scheme. Once we reached the Ingrebourne Valley, the two groups became one again and it must have been quite a sight for many pedestrians taking a stroll that morning.

The Ingrebourne Valley route is very pleasant as it takes you through some lovely park areas, along the river and past a lake. There are also some play areas along the way as well as an outdoor gym which is located at the start of the Ingrebourne Valley and which a few members of the group decided to try out. Just before Rainham we took a detour to climb a hill which gave us a good vantage point from where we were reminded that we were not in the countryside as you view the Dartford river crossing, the power station and the factories and wind turbines of Ford at Dagenham. As the group took the opportunity to rest and take some photos from this vantage point, Caroline phoned through to the RSPB café to place food orders, so that there would be sufficient hot food available when we arrived.

After this important task was completed the group continued through Rainham village, along some sections of road and some shared use pavements, before heading under the A13 and entering Rainham Marshes. Continuing towards to the RSBP centre, we re-discovered the "worst cycle barrier in the world" - the creator's sole task was to obviously provide the most frustratingly slow barrier for any cyclist to pass through! Most of us gave up and we ended up just passing the bikes over the fence as it was a lot quicker. Fortunately at this point the route now joined the Thames river path which led us to the RSPB visitor centre.

After a leisurely early lunch we crossed over the River Mar Dyke to continue along the River Thames path towards Grays. After ducking through an opening in a fence we continued along a path which was rather challenging as we had to negotiate a few over & under passes, as well as dealing with a rough surface. After cycling past the busy docks and under the Queen Elizabeth Bridge we finally came across the Graffiti wall, with only one puncture repair to slow us down. The Grays graffiti wall is approximately 1.6 miles long and forms part of the Thames flood barrier. Some of the graffiti we saw that day was very interesting and found it hard to believe that they were created just using aerosol spray cans.

The next highlight after the graffiti wall was St Clements church, which was where the funeral in Four Weddings and a Funeral was filmed. The church has been de-consecrated and is now a nature reserve, and sits in the shadows of the Proctor and Gamble factory, which looms large behind it. The next part of the journey took as on a detour to see the Chafford Gorges. This area was extensively quarried for brickearth (used to make bricks), gravel, and chalk from the 18th century to the end of the 1950s. The gorges now form a nature reserve area and are a very impressive sight indeed.

After this little detour we headed back to the RSBP’s visitors centre via Davy Down Riverside Park, which is a nature reserve and a hidden gem. It was unfortunately at this point it started to rain so with heads down we cycled past water meadows, woodland, grazing horses, the attractive Stifford Viaduct (which was built in late Victorian times) and along the River Mar Dyke. It didn’t take us long till we arrived back at the RSPB café for a hot drink and slice of cake. This rest stop gave us the chance to dry off a bit and to relax before the homeward journey. We returned back to Upminster station going via Rainham station where a number of people decided to catch their trains back into London. The rest of the group, which was now smaller in size, continued along the Ingrebourne Valley back to Upminster station.

It was a lovely leisurely day's ride taking in some of the more unusual and interesting sights of Essex. Thanks to Caroline, the ride leader who ensured that there was amble opportunity for tea and cake stops.