The Longest Pier in the World

As I entered the pier, it stretched out before me into the distance. Usually I take the train to the end. What on earth possessed me to walk? I’d committed myself now. There was no going back. I had to keep going to the end, all 1.34 miles (or 2.16 km) of it.

I began to walk, leaving behind the screams from the theme park rides of Adventure Island. Below me, through the slits between the wooden planks, was mud. The tide was out. Those cracks of sea beneath had frightened me as a child.

It’s quite a narrow pier, just a railway track and footpath wide. There’s not much room to pass. I met a group of schoolchildren in their uniforms, chattering away and all holding worksheets. Their teachers were following behind. I was now over the water and had reached the first shelter. They are a welcome relief when it’s windy. It blows twice as strong away from the shore. But today it was gentle even out here. It was a good day for walking the pier. Lots of other people had the same idea. Families walking out, people walking back. We nodded to each other as we passed, or said hello.

I kept passing a family with a small child as we each stopped to take photos. A train trundled past. A seal popped his head up to say hello, then disappeared again. There’s a colony of them living on a sandbank in the middle of the river. If you have binoculars you can see them from the cliffs.

A sign fixed to the rail told me I was ½ mile from shore. Oh goodness. I’m not even halfway yet. Another shelter. This one had a fisherman casting his line. “They’re not biting today” he said. “There’s not enough wind to chop the water.” Another train went by, in the other direction this time. Further on more fishermen. Another sign. This one told me I was a mile from shore and I’m still not at the end. I’d forgotten how long this pier is.

Finally I got there. I needed a cup of coffee from the new cultural centre. There’s not a lot else at the end of the pier anymore, since the last major fire in 2005. “There have been five fires in the pier’s 184 year history”, the lady in the RNLI shop told me. “There’s a small museum at the shore end telling you all about it.” Based at the end of the world’s longest pier, Southend Lifeboat station is the busiest in England. The Thames Estuary is a busy waterway and treacherous to sail in. I always buy something from the shop. It feels important to support the Lifeboats.

I took the train back to shore. I was tired but I had enjoyed being a tourist in my own town.