England Coast Path Fenn Hoo to Gravesend Part 22

 14.38 miles 

Elevation Gain 314 Feet 

Time 4:54 Hours

So this is the last section we need to complete & we have walked every section of coast from Minehead in Somerset to Gravesend in Kent. Thats a lot of days & a lot of miles.

We now jump the River Thames & continue up the east coast tilbury & beyond.

The Route

Gillingham to Fenn Hoo Part 21

 Distance 12:32 Miles

Elevation gain 363 Feet

Time 4 hours 4 Minutes

Back on the trail it's a very pleasant day warm & sunny starting near the Strand café walking along the banks of the river Medway but with no path close to the river we are forced onto a main road ''enjoying'' the traffic fumes until we go over a bridge onto St Mary's Island  where we the foot path closed we retrace our steps back over the bridge & are able to re-join the coast path along the banks of the River Medway. 

For us this is a first, a submarine being turned into a house boat complete with windows in the conning tower. 

Unusual for us we find a lovely little pub on the route & stop off for lunch. Sitting out in the sunny garden eating a fishfinger sandwich.

Lunch over & refreshed we hit the trail the tide was out & the boats were sitting on the mud, marooned waiting for the water to return.

  

The banks of the river lined with red bricks keeping the erosion at bay but being slowly taken by the water stroking them enticing them into the water.

But eventually some are taken, leaving their friends to collapse into the water now providing no protection to the banks of the river now just victims of the water being consumed lap by lap as the tide goes in & out.

Turning away from the river, across the fields, under the electric cables strung between the metal pylons towering up into the sky & onto our finishing point for the day.