Walk 4 takes me out on the north coast of the Hoo Peninsula. The word 'hoo' is derived from an old Anglo-Saxon word for a projecting area of land, a bit like the word 'peninsula'. Which would make this the Peninsula Peninsula! Anyway, moving on...
I begin at the crossing point of Cliffe Creek where I finished last time.
A short ten minute walk brings me to the end of Cliffe Creek and back at the Thames Estuary.
I turn right and continue along the estuary. The path is nice and flat although I cant see much over the wall. This doesn't change for quite a way!
Lots of this, with the cranes of the London Gateway Port over in Essex visible in the distance...
...and the ever-present sheep to the right.
After a while I spot something different. A small stone obelisk is sitting beside the sea wall apparently trying to do an impression of the Leaning Tower of Pisa! The inscription is faded and hard to make out but this marks Lower Hope Point, the limit of the Port of London Authority.
Shortly after Lower Hope Point I pass the derelict buildings of an old explosives factory. They are well spread out in order to minimise the effects of any accidents. I'm sure that set the workers minds at rest...
I'm now getting closer to the London Gateway Port across the river...
Somewhere around here lies the northernmost point of Kent. It's a bit hard to tell the exact spot because the coast curves very gently and all looks the same. In fact, this sea wall and scrubby bush combo goes on for the rest of today's walk! I'm going to say its here...
Almost another hour of this view brought me to the end point of today's walk, the Salt Fleet Flats. This wildlife sanctuary was created in 2016 to replace habitat lost as a result of the London Gateway development. Lying just to the west of Egypt Bay, it isn't on the Ordnance Survey maps yet!
Talking of OS maps, this walk has a little post script. My plan was to return to my car, parked in Cliffe village, along a public footpath on the map, which ran pretty much from where I was directly across the marshes to the village. However, apart from one faded 'public footpath' sign near my starting point, there were no signs at all. There was not even a visible path on the ground.
As a result, what I had expected to be a forty-odd minute stroll turned into a two hour-plus slog - bumbling about in one field of sheep after another, trying to find a way through the barbed wire fences and drainage ditches. There were plenty of big red signs of the 'keep out, private property, trespassers will be shot' variety, at which I kept thinking "well if you didn't remove the footpath signs and block the path I wouldn't be lost and walking across your property!" So a slightly irritating end to the day!
Anyway. Next time - more Hoo Peninsula! Hopefully with fewer access issues...
Hi Anson - I have just found your blog from Ruth Livingstone's. If you need any help with your walk you might be interested to read the books I published about my coastal walk which I completed in August 2019. The books are all called Recollections Of A Coastal Walker....... and are available on Amazon or Kindle if you search for them. Quite expensive on Amazon as paperbacks but only £1.50 or so on Kindle. There are 28 volumes. Volume 28 covers your start. I started and ended in Rye and walked clockwise too. All the best in your endeavours. Chris
ReplyDeleteCheers Chris, I'll have a look. One fifty won't break the bank despite the best efforts of Mr Putin!
ReplyDeleteBeware the firing ranges at Grain and stroppy farmers! - maybe the English Coastal Path will have been completed by now around Grain. Good luck!
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