O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! I have finally started the Saxon Shore Way! Forgive me for the egregious use of Lewis Carroll, but it really does feel like I've finally slain the Jabberwock. Or at least started to!
Embarking on the SSW has been a long time coming and it did not disappoint. I plotted the first 32km (just shy of 20 miles) to run from Gravesend Station to Strood Station, but I confess I didn't quite follow the plan; the in-laws live within sight line of SSW slightly along the estuary and it seemed silly to go back into Gravesend town. I would encourage any walker without a familiarity with Gravesend to visit the town; famous as the burial place of Pocahontas (yes, that one) and chock full of Tudor, Napoleonic and Victorian historical interest. But I used to live there so I skipped it!
I filled up on tea at the in-laws before heading across the Shorne marshes, crossing the railway and joining the SSW at the point it passes the Napoleonic fort of Shornemead. The fort was established in the 1860s to protect against seaborne invasion; much of it is lost, but the remaining casements are evocative of a martial era, and would be more so if not for the graffiti that covers them.
Following the SSW eastwards the path absolutely hugs the shoreline, the Thames estuary lapping just feet below, with remarkable views up the river towards what eventually becomes the North Sea. Higham marshes stretch out the right of the path as as the river pins you in from the right, and the overall feeling is one of isolation and mystery. The path crosses Higham Creek, just at the point the river bends north before reaching Cliffe Fort (another Napoleonic era defence against French invasion) which coincides with the point at which a possible Medieval ferry service to Essex (likely a ford across the river in Roman times as the water levels were lower then) may have disembarked. A causeway leading to this point from the Benedictine priory in Church Street, near Lower Higham, was maintained throughout the Medieval era, with tolls for accessing it and the ferry payable at the priory.
The narrow path with water on both sides was a particular highlight and I was pleased to be walking in sunny and dry conditions; this would be frankly scary in wind and rain! The history of this area is writ large all over it, both as a strategic military position in modern and ancient times, and an industrial hub adjacent to the Port of London. Heading around Cliffe Fort, which isn't open to the public but is a huge building, you're abruptly faced with an aggregates shipping yard! In fact the path runs under the conveyor belt that loads/unloads said aggregates from incoming ships. A couple of hundred metres after that encounter the path enters the RSPB nature reserve at Cliffe Pools and there are egrets all over the place. It's hard to keep up!
It's worth noting that up to this point, the SSW has followed the same route as the England Coast Path, but at this point it diverges, with the SSW heading inland toward Cliffe village. A very picturesque little bit of the world, I stopped here for tea and to address a blister hot spot which, at only 11km in, was very annoying!
Leaving Cliffe, I headed out across fields towards Cooling. To the left the flat expanse of marshes, including the wonderfully gothic-named Whalebone Marsh, and ahead and to my right the gently rising and rolling landscape that would have been the shoreline when the Romans were in town. Heading into Cooling, and passing the rather awesome castle, broad expanses of vineyards and orchards open up, taking advantage of well drained soil and lots of sunshine to help continue Kent's reputation as the garden of England.
The path starts to climb at this point, heading towards High Halstow National Nature Reserve, which includes a steep climb straight up Northward Hill. For the bird watchers among you, the nature reserve is renowned for bird life and has some viewing hides and lovely trails to catch the best of the views and the wildlife. The view from the woodland viewpoint was so clear you could actually make out the London skyline some 34 miles away.
Not long after emerging from the woodland of the nature reserve the SSW turns south for the second leg of its traversal across the Hoo Peninsula, which separates the Thames estuary from that of the River Medway. I ran into some difficulty here; the path labelled on the OS map as 'Bessie's Lane' was so overgrown you couldn't even make out a fenceline to follow. Discretion being the better part of valour, I took an alternative route via Newlands Farm. A similar problem was to be found on the path heading down towards Parbrook House; in this instance a pleasant chap at the local garage, alongside which the SSW runs, was able to direct me to a bypass which didn't add any distance. Still, poor form for what is a significant long distance path, which is otherwise well signed and maintained.
These issues behind me, I continued my path southward, already begging to hear and smell the tell-tale signs of being back close to the water. And sure enough, 5km later I found myself standing on the levee looking out over the Hoo Flats on the River Medway. This bit of the Medway, downstream from Rochester, is peppered with little islands like Hoo Ness and Darnet Ness, some of which have fortifications. Tiny ships bob on the sun dappled water in the distance, and in the foreground runnels of water push their way through silt and mud around tufts of hardy grasses and the occasional ruin of a barge. This then, was the final leg of this first day, hugging the Medway shoreline, initially traversing holiday parks and passing behind boat yards before emerging on the the foreshore to follow the mean high tide mark all the way to the end of my route. This last was glorious; tiny waves lapping in the mud, my boots crunching over shingle whilst woodland stretches up to my right towards the road. Across the water latter day blocks of flats loom on the horizon, a reminder that this part of world continues its industrious march into the future.
On what was at that point the hottest day of the year, with just the merest smudge of cirrus cloud in the sky, I couldn't have wished for a better route. It really did have everything; history, atmosphere, dazzling landscapes, nature at its finest and most diverse and sea breezes. Not to mention Victorian gothic place names that are itching for a ghost story......
Overall I ended up covering 29km, stopping just short of Strood Station to avail myself of a lift from the good-web-developer-him-indoors. My blister hotspot had developed into an absolute beast of a heel blister and I was ready to stop at that point. Critical lessons you thought I would have learned by now- 1. Properly dress a blister hotspot with an actual non-adhesive dressing before it gets any worse. 2. On a blistering hot day, carry electrolytes as well as lots of water! I definitely learned that for Race to the Stones last year, so its beyond me why I failed to remember this time. Won't make that same mistake for days 2-3 of the SSW which I've started planning for July, with a view to getting from Strood to Faversham.
A final picture from day 1 following the Medway foreshore.
And here's the map....
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