Coastwalk

Allhallows-on-Sea → Gravesend

Distance: 16.5 miles
Ascent: 160 metres
Duration: 5 hours 2 minutes

Regeneration
« Allhallows | Greenhithe »

Taking the scenic route, it's 867 miles from Sandbanks in Poole Harbour to Freiston Shore on The Wash. And as of today, I've walked every single one of them. Finally I've closed the gap and have walked the entire coastline of south-east England. (I'm very happy.)

For a while I thought I might never do this walk. The Hoo peninsula was a candidate site for a new London airport. It's easy to see why - the land here is deserted and perfectly flat; it's close to both the M25 and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Conservation won the day though. The landscape may not be stunningly beautiful, but it's said to be an important site for migrating birds.

This familiar fen-like landscape dominated the first two thirds of the walk. My companion to the right was The Thames, and its constant stream of surprisingly hefty ships. Beyond the towers of Coryton Refinery provided a gloomy backdrop.

Brownfields and regeneration are the new buzzwords of this area. From Cliffe to Gravesend I walked through land aching to be invested in. It is as if owners know the potential value of their land in ten to twenty years time, and so have let it be until that time. Burnt-out cars, disused quarries and derelict warehouses made me glad to finally reach the marinas and "waterside apartments" of Gravesend.

It was here that I crossed the Thames four and a half years ago on the start of my walk round Essex. It's been a long walk to get back here, but at last I'm done with the south-east.

Now it's just a matter of completing south-west coast path, finishing off Wales, tackling the north-east and north-west, and of course Scotland. Perhaps today isn't such a big milestone after all.

In 2009 I decided to walk up the Thames after all, perhaps crossing right in the centre of London on Tower Bridge.