Walking Tour – Czech Shoes and Mucking Flats – the Thames at East Tilbury

A guided 5-mile walk from East Tilbury exploring the Bata shoe factory village, passing Coalhouse Fort and along the river wall to Mucking Flats.

This guided walk, led by Rob Smith of Footprints of London, is the ninth in a series following the Thames from London to the sea. It begins at East Tilbury station and explores the village built around the Bata shoe factory in the 1930s, whose modernist factory buildings, workers' accommodation, school and cinema were influenced by Bauhaus ideas; the factory closed in 2005 and the site is now a conservation area. The route then passes Coalhouse Fort and follows the river wall to Mucking Flats, a marshland popular with wildfowl with views of passing ships, before finishing back at the station. The walk covers 5 miles in total and lasts about three and a half hours.