So, even before I’ve started, I have a slight problem!
I’ve decided to go clockwise round the coast; it just seems right, somehow! That gives my start point where the river Darent flows into the Thames Estuary. The Darent being the Kent border with London. It’s not what you would call ‘easily accessible’ though, so requires a bit of planning to get to. In the end, I parked up in Greenhithe near the station and took a train to Dartford. From Dartford Station the Darent Valley Footpath is well signposted and easily followed across the Dartford Marshes for a couple of miles to where I wanted to be. Where I found this…
Yes, the Dartford Creek Barrier. Helpfully, there is a handy information board for fans of flood defences…
After marvelling at the…err… marvels of modern engineering, I was on my way. The path was nice, easy, grassy, and flat, the river on my left and the marshes on my right. In the distance the Dartford Crossing, officially called the Queen Elizabeth II bridge.
As I neared the crossing, I passed first a delightful sewage farm, then the site of the old Littlebrook Power Station which has been redeveloped into, among other things, a MASSIVE Amazon distribution centre. Across the river, Essex had some big industrial action of its own going on involving some big boats!
The path at this point was concrete, seemingly a relic of the old industrial shore. Next up, walking under the Dartford crossing. Cool!
The bridge, of course, takes Southbound traffic only. To travel from Kent to Essex you use the tunnel. Possibly the most congested bit of road in the country, the average queue for the tunnel is twenty minutes. Often the M25 has traffic backed up for an hour or more. And you have to pay a toll for the privilege!
There are plans to alleviate the situation by building another crossing a few miles further east. This would be a huge engineering project and take many, many years, so if you are regularly stuck in the current queue I wouldn't hold your breath...
Anyway. Onto the last stretch of today’s walk. Greenhithe is only a mile or so away and there is greenery on my right separating the path from a load of light industrial units. Approaching Greenhithe the path turns inland to skirt some sort of gravel works and a large Asda. Past Asda, and I’m back at the car park!
This was quite a fun walk. I had thought that it would have a more 'industrial' vibe to it, but as it turns out there was a lot of greenery involved! The path was very quiet. I only met three people, a dog walker, a jogger, and a bloke who seemed to be photographing birds on the river. Or maybe he was doing industrial espionage...
I only managed to do the first 4 miles or so of the actual coast, but you have to factor in the couple of miles extra that it takes to get from Dartford Station to the flood barrier. So, still a long way to go!
