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Flitch Way
Colonel of Truth mentioned this a while ago. I had a vague plan of riding along it over the week-end but then couldn't be bothered with trying to find the entrances in Great Dunmow. Unfortunately, the route of the Flitch Way has been disrupted there by the A120; more short-sighted road-building on what seems like a still good and (potentially future) viable railway alignment. Here's a map of the Flitch Way (PDF):
http://www.visitparks.co.uk/media/1035/the-flitch-way-map.pdf
I assume many reading this thread will be glad that the huge Brook Green development proposal that would have threatened the alignment has been dismissed:
https://nobrookgreen.co.uk/2019/06/13/brook-green-appeal-dismissed/
Here's the web-site of the Friends of the Flitch Way:
https://www.friends-of-the-flitch-way.org.uk/
On Rayne Station, apparently once a very busy station on this line:
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/r/rayne/
And here's the web-site of the café at Rayne Station that Colonel of Truth mentioned:
https://www.thebookinghall.co.uk/
The Flitch Way seems to be in decent condition apart from the need for a diversion around Great Dunmow, so would probably make for a good little excursion. I would mention in passing that the map above makes public houses along the line a very prominent cartographical feature.
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Oliver Schick
The Flitch Way is a well maintained railway trail going from Braintree to Bishop's Stortford in Essex (although it does it's best to make you get lost in Great Dunmow). Good quality surface and lots of original halts, tunnels and cuttings along the way. Rayne station has been turned into a cafe and you can have a coffee on the old platform.
There are loads that are less well maintained though and you can spot them fairly easily on google maps, just look for long thin lines of trees. I went on a mission a couple years back to find and check out as many as I could in Essex/Suffolk, the only other really notable one is the Blackwater Trail that runs between Witham and Maldon.