Kent Holiday Day 2 - Part 1

We are in Kent for a few days staying at Haven Kent Coast Holiday Park in Allhallows-on-Sea on the Hoo peninsula and Thames estuary. I looked up the tide times and found that, with low tide just after 10am, today would be perfect for doing this walk I had discovered online.

The forecast was for a few showers, but we were undeterred. It was only a few miles from where we were staying and we were at the start of the walk in Upnor before 10am.

This was our route.

As the description for the walk says...

"Despite being just 30 miles downriver from the capital, the Hoo Peninsula is a fairly isolated place. Sandwiched between the lower reaches of the Thames and the meandering Medway, Hoo's isolated position encouraged the development of industry.

With water on either side, Hoo has long been a strategic location for defence. Today its decommissioned power stations and derelict military forts tell stories of more turbulent times. 

On this short walk from the pretty village of Upnor, explore the changing face of the river and its marshlands that attracted writers like Dickens and painters including Turner and Hogarth." 

Further quotes from the excellent description of the walk are included below in italics.

Here are a few photos.

Before we left the holiday village we admired the different landscape of the Thames estuary with the tide nearly out.

We parked by the road at the top of Upnor by the Kings Arms pub.

We walked down the delightful traffic-free cobbled High Street towards the River Medway.

Most of the houses date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and are made of local materials, including yellow brick and Kentish weatherboarding. The houses have been lovingly cared for and the original features like sash windows, distinctive railings and doors all add to a sense of its history.

At the river's edge we got a view across to Chatham.

We liked this quirky watchtower.

Returning to the top of the High Street, we took to the England Coastal Path.

We passed what used to be an Ordnance Yard. Bunny and Bear's café offer breakfast, brunch    and Portuguese and Polish specials, but we didn't stop.

We were soon back by the river in Lower Upnor.

Here we had a view across to St Mary's island.

As the walk brochure says... "Described as a ‘strategically planned island community’ this is a brand new 150 acre development of houses which also includes a new church, school, doctor’s surgery, riverside walks, children’s play areas and public art.

Yet just two hundred years ago St Mary’s Island had a different reputation. During the Napoleonic Wars with France (1803-1815), old disused boats were moored alongside the island to hold French prisoners of war. The men who died on these prison hulks were buried on the marshes of St Mary’s Island. Besides confining POWs, the hulks were a cheaper option than building new jails, so they were used to house criminals. Charles Dickens drew on reports of convicts escaping these prison hulks for the dramatic opening of Great Expectations (1861) when Pip encounters the convict Magwitch fleeing across the North Kent marshes:

“By the light of torches, we saw the black Hulk lying out a little way from the mud of the shore, like a wicked Noah’s ark. Cribbed and barred and moored by massive rusty chains, the prison-ship seemed in my young eyes to be ironed like the prisoners.""

This is The Pier pub. just across the road from the river shore.

This boat park was nearby.

We came to these boundary stones.

"These two stones may not look like much but they point to an important part in Hoo’s maritime past.

Historically fishing has been important to our island nation and the Hoo Peninsula’s location between two large river estuaries has been exploited for centuries. From as far back as the Domesday Book in 1086 individual manors on the peninsula were accorded strictly observed fishing rights. From the thirteenth century onwards the City of London was awarded the rights to fish as far as the lower reaches of the Thames and into the Medway. 

These boundary stones mark the southern limit of their fishing boats. In a kind of maritime version of beating the bounds, the Lord Mayor of London made regular trips along the river including ceremonies at these stones that reinforced the boundaries of these fishing rights. Festivities often lasted for days and became merry affairs dispensing wine, beer and coins to the watching crowds."

We loved the views across the river.

We came to the figurehead 'Arethusa'.

"The origins of the figurehead lie in the early days of seafaring. To sailors their ship was a living thing. A figurehead was said to protect and help the ship to find its own way - and a ship could only do this if it had eyes! Female figureheads like this one baring one or both breasts were popular. Women on board ship were thought to be unlucky, but a naked woman was supposed to be able to calm a storm at sea."

Here we came to the part of the walk that is accessible at low tide walking along the shoreline. We passed Medway Yacht Club.

Looking back to where we had come from we could now see Upnor Castle. "Upnor Castle was built between 1560 and 1564 to defend the dockyard at Chatham from attack, particularly from the

Dutch with whom we were at war. But the castle proved ineffective. In 1667 the Dutch sailed across the North Sea, into the mouth of the Thames Estuary and up the Medway to destroy the British Fleet at Chatham. The guns of Upnor Castle fired on the advancing forces but to little effect."

Along the shore...

...towards Hoo Marina.

"This red brick wall on the shore of the Medway is gradually being eroded by the tide. Now a rather unassuming relic, these were once an important part of the country’s defences. This strategic location not far from the mouth of the Medway was designed to protect nearby Chatham dockyard after the devastating Dutch raid of 1667. In 1669 an artillery fort known as Cockham Wood was built here (with

another across the river at Gillingham). The archways you can see are the remains of a gun platform where 44 guns pointed out into the river. However the guns were never fired and the fort fell into disrepair."

Now we could see across to Gillingham. But it was through a haze of rain and soon enough afterwards we were caught by a sharp shower.

This bit was a little tricky but we managed it okay.

In the distance we could make out the centre of Gillingham.

We walked through Hoo Marina.

Now we turned inland, and soon we were passing the church of Hoo St. Werburgh which we had visited yesterday.

We followed the inland rout back, climbing to get some view towards this jetty and, in the distance, the bridge to  the Isle of Sheppey.

We continued on the straight, obvious path back to Upnor where we started the trail. Her we were on... "..a footpath known as the Saxon Shore Way. Take a look at an Ordnance Survey map and see how the path runs parallel to the shoreline. This footpath runs 163 miles from Gravesend in Kent to Hastings in East Sussex. It traces the coast of  South East England as it was in Roman times around 1,500 years ago. Its name comes from a series of Roman forts that were built along the coast in the 3rd century AD to protect against Saxon invaders coming from Denmark."

Looking back again we could see Fort Darnet. Like the Cockham Wood Fort we saw earlier it was another line of defence built to defend Chatham dockyard from attack.

Eventually we turned back towards the river descending through a wood...

...to reach the boundary stones once more.

We returned to Upnor and walked down the High Street again to see if Upnor Castle was open to visit.

Alas it wasn't, so we returned to the Kings Arms for a lunch of traditional fare - I had the steak and kidney pudding and Dawn had the cottage pie. Delicious! 

What a lovely walk!

You can find more details of our 5.9 mile route here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file here) and see more of my photos from the day here on Flickr.