Bright and breezy. 13.0 miles.
It was a frosty start and the keen wind let me know winter hasn’t left yet, but the sun shone and fluffy cumulus clouds adorned the sky. Initially i had to walk beside an A road using a cycle route to get over tributaries of the river Darent, then turn down along its western bank which soon turned into quiet countryside so after a couple of miles i could see the queen Elizabeth bridge and a power station to the east and the rather large liftable barrier that sits across the mouth of the river Darent.
Its another part of the Thames barrier scheme should London ever be threatened with an unusual high tide, it would be very handy for coast walkers if it had a foot crossing. This puts me on the south shore of the Thames which is turning estuarine as it approaches the sea but for now i can see the far shore quite easily.
Turn left for London and at Crayford ness i notice a radar rotating alongside the scrapyard i’ve just walked round, the path is good and here it seems to be shared by many path names.
Nearing Erith its necessary to turn inland around some more industry but its simple enough to do and soon back on the shore path which is mostly hard surfaced on top of an embankment so the views are excellent. The embankment is obviously so the land behind it could be drained marsh and built on but the river side is still mud flats and as the tide was going out an excellent feeding zone for various water fowl of which i saw plenty.
Having said its mostly good views there is also a small section which passes a power station fueled by sludge apparently and an area where the path passes under many elevators which fill ships with something or they offload here.
Its all part of the coast today and would be wrong to miss it out, to balance the view there were also yachts sailing along the Thames.
With wind turbines on the opposite shore and i did see a couple of bird watchers with impressive scopes which really bring the birds close to view. As i progressed from here the city sky scrapers came into view and the path became more concrete with occasional inland diversions which i must say were few and short. Nearing the end of my walk passes the old Woolwich arsenal military establishment which now seems to be a tourist attraction and had a courtyard of sculptured people.
Ive been intending to cross the river via the underpass at Woolwich some time but find it closed for maintenance due to open in spring.
