I set off along the sea wall past Warden which seems the sort of ‘quiet little place by the sea’ that you might retire to!
Between Warden and Leysdown the path crosses the beach where there is a very small bay called, according to the OS map, The Bay. How do they think ‘em up, eh…?
Leysdown is old-school seaside holiday and, while only small, boasts a pub, a bandstand, a couple of chippys, and about three hundred amusement arcades!
Past Leysdown the path continues beside the beach to Shellness at the eastern point of Sheppey. On the way are about eight to ten or so of these…
Too big to be beach huts, maybe cabins is a better word? A couple looked a bit decrepit, a couple looked just refurbished, and I wonder if they are individually owned holiday homes or rented out or what.
Anyway, if you fancy a beach holiday in one you need to know they are only a couple of hundred yards from here…
Today however, there was nobody about. Probably due to the freezing wind!
Just past the naturist beach is the privately owned Hamlet of Shellness. A welcoming place…
I do a right turn at the gate and head down the path through the Swale National Nature Reserve…
This path seemed to go on for quite a way…
…and kept on going…
After traversing this abundant haven for wildlife for a good couple of miles I had managed to spot, with my usual keen eye, a caterpillar! But it managed to run and hide before I could take a photo…
On reaching the Isle of Harty the path turns a short way inland to the Hamlet of Harty. As its name suggests, Harty was once an island but the channel that separated it from Sheppey silted up centuries ago. Today it stands out as a low hill in an otherwise very flat landscape!
The hamlet consists of a few cottages and a small church that dates from about the 11th Century…
A few minutes further on is the Harty Ferry Inn and the site of the old Harty ferry. The ferry used to run across the Swale from here to Oare on the mainland, but was discontinued in 1953. The Inn looked very nice and, judging by the number of cars in the car park, seemed to be very popular for somewhere so remote!
The Harty Ferry Inn…
The end of today’s walk, the remains of the ferry jetty. The mainland looks so close…
