Day: 171 19/4/97 Gravesend to Erith

Weather:  Windy and cool but dry

Distance: 25 km ( 15.5 miles)    Total Distance:     miles

Gravesend was already quite busy by the time I arrived and it initially looked like I may have trouble parking but luckily I found my way down to the estuary and a car park almost empty and only a couple of hundred yards from where I has stopped walking last time. 

Almost from the start of today's walk I was forced inland but not too far.  I tried to cut down near where the ferry from Tilbury lands but frustratingly it was a no-through path.  On the outskirts of Gravesend I did manage about a mile by the Thames but once I reached the Kimberly Clarke paper mill I again had to come up to the main road via a footpath that went virtually through the factory. It looked as if it was private but a security guard reassured me I was OK to go that way.

Onto the busy main road for another mile and I was then able to cut down through an industrial estate and onto Swanscombe Marshes. The path was a bit unclear and I was afraid I was going to end up in a quarry where the big excavators were working but I got back to the Thames for a while and seemed to end up in a disused navel training center and school.  I missed the path that cut into Greenthite but after a little detour up to the main road again and the down to the village. 

I had a decision to make – a bar of chocolate from the corner shop or a pint. The later won especially as the football match was about to start – a morning kick off to almost decide the championship. If Man United beat Liverpool then almost nobody could catch them – and they did.  I had sausage and chips and a couple of pints but did not hang around to see the end of the match.

I could now get back to the river’s edge once through the village, and was able to stay by it for quite a long way.  The giant Dartford Bridge loomed in the distance, traffic passing so high above that it was quiet.  I was surprised when I got there how easy it was to touch the supports – I would have thought with all the terrorist activity around it would have been very well guarded. Perhaps I was been closely watched on CCTV.  Pedestrians aren't allowed to walk across the Dartford Crossing so it was another day's walk for me upstream to find a suitable crossing

I entered a mile or so of industry and their wharves and then into more green area.  I was disappointed when I got to the mouth of the River Darent that I was not able to walk over the flood barrier but it was a giant affair - –and very well defended!    This meant a long, long, detour inland – longer than first looked on the map and a particularly frustrating detour. Eventually after more than an hours walk I ended up only a hundred yards from where I was before.  This side of the river was now more industrialised – scrap yards etc.  Soon I was forced to cut inland and ended up in the town of Erith.  I caught the train back to Gravesend and walked to collect the car down by the river.

I found the Youth Hostel a little easier this time, had a shower and popped out for a kebab – not risking the appealing Chinese I had last time.  I phoned my wife from the call box opposite the youth hostel and then made myself a couple of mugs of tea before heading off for an early night in a dormitory to myself.