Introduction
Earlier this year, a new section of the England Coast Path was officially
opened. My walking mate David was born and bred in southeast London so offered
to accompany me and act as interpreter. We had planned for a trip in mid-July
but were caught out by a heatwave, train cancellations and a declared state of national
emergency. We deferred our hotel bookings for two weeks and rebooked our train
journey for the first day of August. The railways were still in chaos, some of
it strike-induced, so our express to London was declassified and we travelled
first-class. The DLR from Bank took us rapidly to Greenwich where we checked
into our hotel and then found a friendly coffee shop on the High Street. To stretch
our legs we went for a walk through the foot tunnel onto the Isle of Dogs. The
city farm at Mudshute was suffering from lack of rain. All grassland was
parched straw and the heat would take some getting used to. Back on the south
side to the river, we slipped past the Naval College and along to the Cutty
Sark, an olde worlde pub on the riverfront. On our way back through Greenwich, we
called in at Cafe Rouge to see whether we needed a table reservation. Then we went
back to our pub for another pint and a change of clothes.
Stayed at the Mitre on Greenwich High Road. Ate at Café Rouge, black truffle
& camembert burger, lemon tart, a bottle of red wine and an early night.
Tuesday 2nd Aug 2022 Thames
Barrier – Dartford Bridge
A Barrier to Progress
Descending to breakfast, we were
informed that this was not included in our booking. I had not brought with me
the details of the original reservation which stated breakfast was part of the
deal. The girls gave us some bacon and eggs and suggested a lack of communications
with the central booking office. Grabbing a butty from M&S, we leapt onto a
bus heading for Woolwich, getting off at the pathway down to the Thames
Barrier. I had wanted to start here as this is where my trip began along the
Thames Path some 5 years ago. This time we were heading in the opposite
direction, along the Thames Path Extension to the mouth of the river. A few
photos were taken to commemorate the occasion and then, under a cloudy sky, we
were off through the back streets of Charlton towards Woolwich. The ferry
stopped working as we approached the South Circular so we went on to the subway
which was the point at which the England Coast Path crosses the Thames. Our
trek along the Kent section of this path was about to begin.
We passed some unusual metal
sculptures at Woolwich Arsenal, a cluster of alien-like figures in dark steel.
Under clearing skies and warming temperatures we walked passed mile after mile
of riverside apartments. Then industrial sites became our companion as we
rounded a bend in the river and saw Erith ahead. Digital technology was used to
navigate into the town to find the Tropical Café where our first break of the
day was taken. Returning to the coast path, we continued for another mile or so
until a bench in the riverside gardens proved an ideal lunch stop to eat our M&S
sandwiches. The route took to the streets to exit Erith before a track cut back
towards the river at Crayford Ness and we came out into our first bit of
countryside. As we rounded the Ness, the Dartford Crossing came into view. It
looked so close. Little did we know what awaited us. The River Darrent blocked
our way.
We had been aware that an
excursion inland would be necessary to get round this impasse. What we had not
realised was just how long it was going to take us to reach the point on the
other side of the barrage gates. In total it took nearly two hours to get round
the two prongs of this river system, a loop that brought us to the A206 dual
carriageway at two separate points. By the time we regained the riverside not
100 metres further along, we had clocked up five miles of walking. The last
mile and a half along the river was straightforward and we soon reached the
site of the old Littlebrook Power Station, now being rebuilt as an Amazon
warehouse To reach our hotel, we had to weave through an industrial estate,
along a bus-only lane and across some busy roads. Luckily, we found a subway
which took us under the worst of the traffic and into the car park of the
hotel. It had been a long hot day.
Thames Barrier dep. 09.52, Holiday
Inn, Dartford Bridge arr. 17.50
GPS 19.45 miles in 7hrs 12mins 10secs
walking time, plus a 30-minute stop in Erith (Tropical Café) for coffee and
cake and a 20-minute sandwich stop in Erith Riverside Gardens
Stayed in the Holiday Inn on
University Way. The beer was IPA from Goose Island (5.9%). Ate Chicken Masala
followed by apple tart and custard.
Wednesday 3rd Aug 2022 Dartford Bridge - Cliffe
Out into the Marshes
An early breakfast avoided the queues at the buffet. This enabled us to be
walking well before 9am. The return journey to the coast path seemed much
shorter than last night. In fact it was 1½ miles back to the Thames but a good
night’s rest had filled us with renewed energy and we were soon standing under Dartford Bridge, a huge concrete structure. Then it was onwards into Greenhithe
and the Asda supermarket for our daily sandwiches. A complex section around the
streets took us round the town centre and out once more onto the bare and
parched marshes. I paused under the immense pylons carrying the 400kV national grid
over the Thames. This was a project my father had worked on over half a century
ago. The route cut inland to get across Broadness and the bend in the river and
then continued on an inland route through the industrial complexes of
Ebbsfleet. Emerging onto the main road at the football stadium, there in front
of us, like a mirage shimmering in the sunshine, was a Costa’s coffee shop and
the end of our early morning endeavours.
The entire riverbank now seemed to be under reconstruction and
development. Firstly we by-passed the workings at Northfleet Harbour, then
passed factory after factory, including one which had its own war memorial to
workers killed in the last war. A coast path walker coming towards us gave us a
tip about traversing the next housing estate. ‘Just walk straight through and ignore
the diversion signs’, he said. And we did. This brought us into Gravesend and
the pierhead at Tilbury Ferry. The attraction of a beer garden proved too much
and we marched automatically into the Three Daws. A pint of Landlords later, we
emerged into the intense midday heat and moved slowly on through the urban
landscape. We encountered all sorts of problems getting out of Gravesend. First,
we came without warning to a barrier across the path, ‘Footpath closed due to
Dangerous Tyres’. With no diversion signs to be seen, we backtracked around a
small harbour and back to the river using our digital mapping system. This took
us into a long treelined ginnel the outlet of which was blocked by another unclimbable barriers, the other end of the closure.
So we backtracked once more and left town along a busy road.
We eventually found our way back onto the riverbank having walked at
least a mile longer than planned. The only way we could get out of the sun on
this shade-less path was by crawling under an industrial pier. Here we ate our
Azda sandwiches. The last stage of the day was not without its mishap. It
seemed so straightforward to walk along this dry cracked seawall over the
featureless salt marshes but we ended up missing the turn off along an
overgrown path to Cliffe Fort. An extra half mile was added to our days total.
Round the vast old fort, now an active sand quarry, the route cut inland to a
point where a good track headed east across freshwater pools left as bird
habitats from previous extraction activities. Two tired and over-heated
individuals struggled up the last hill and along the straight narrow lane into
Cliffe Village. The Six Bells pub seemed an oasis.
Holiday Inn dep. 08.43, Cliffe arr. 17.00
GPS 19.23 miles in 7hrs 11mins 34secs
walking plus 30-min stop in Costas in Ebbsfleet, 15 mins in the Three Daws in
Gravesend and 15-min lunch stop under a pier.
We stayed at the Six Bells in
Cliffe, drank Whitstable Bay Pale Ale (4.0%) from Shepherd Neame and ate sea
bass & chips. A bottle of Rioja was given a rigorous once over.
Thursday 4th Aug 2022 Cliffe – Grain
The Hoo Peninsular
Breakfast at the Six Bells was not until 8.30am. So we had a leisurely
start to the day tucking into our bacon and eggs whilst scanning the morning
paper. The doors of the pub were wide open and the heat of the day was infiltrating.
In fact it was cooler outside where the breeze from the west cooled us as we
left the village and descended to the water pools at marsh level. Initially we could not gain the top of
the sea wall and were constrained to walk along the grassy track on the
landward side. This sheltered us from the cooling effect of the breeze and we
got hot very quickly. A river drainage system ran through the grazed grassland,
this being connected to the sea via sluices under the sea defences. Obviously,
the flatlands could be inundated with brackish water should the situation
demand.
The sea wall and our walking route was not always dead straight. Inlets
and bays in the estuary led to detours and U-shaped loops that were the main
features in this flat and featureless peninsular. When the path regained the
crest of the sea wall, we passed the time by watching large container ships
approaching on the incoming tide. Towns and settlements on the north shore were
clearly seen and what we thought must be Southend came into view. Ahead of us,
the village of Allhallows never seemed to get any nearer. The white tents of
the holiday park dominated the coastal prospect for at least two hours. It got
hotter and hotter and our water rations were long consumed. So it was a great relief
to emerge eventually onto the waterfront of the holiday park. We turned into
the entertainment areas where we emptied a huge jar of iced water into our
water-bottles and then sat in the shade of one of the holiday homes to eat our
sandwiches.
The last section of the day was thankfully a lot shorter. Leaving
Allhallows and its noisy holiday village behind us, our view was now dominated
by oil storage tanks, part of the legacy of the power stations which once
provided much of the electricity for London and the south east. Passing a
monument to the raising of the sea defences, the route finally turned away from
the embankment that we had been following for the best part of six hours. The
village of Grain was the end of this section of the Coast Path and my
completion of the entire length of the Thames Path from its source in the
Cotswolds to its estuary into the North Sea, some 230 miles of walking over
three trips. Half a mile short of the terminal point, our journey was brought
to an abrupt end by a supermarket, the Hogarth Inn and a bus stop. Clutching
more sandwiches, we toasted the successful completion of our expedition with John
Smiths Gold (not my drink of choice). It had been very hot walking under a
blazing sun. Now it was time to go home. The bus was only a few minutes late.
Cliffe dep. 09.24, Grain arr.15.55
GPS 17.26 miles in 6hrs 4mins 32secs
walking time plus a 30 mins water and butty at Allhallows.
Conclusion
The bus into Rochester hit traffic
in the outskirts of Strood. I could see the prospects of catching an early
train home disappearing in the rush-hour jams. A guy on the bus suggested that
it would be far quicker if we abandoned our plans to go through to Rochester,
get off the bus and walk to Strood Station. He came with us, showing us the
underpass that took us under the line. Wonderfully, the train to St Pancras was
running late and we had time to buy tickets and leap on. It was an amazing
quick journey. The suburban unit joined the high-speed line at Ebbsfleet and
shot under the Thames and under most of east London to get to St Pancras
International. We summoned up the sinews to stride along Euston Road and into
Euston Station. Here a very early evening train had been delayed and, not
wanting to chance cancellations later on, we raced down the platform to claim
seats for the trip north. My wife met the train and took David home first. Arriving
so late and tired, I was ready to go straight to bed but was told in no
uncertain terms to have a shower first, the sheets on the bed had been changed
in my absence.
