It was back to the mainland for today’s walk, which meant driving from my B&B on the Isle of Sheppey to the small medieval town of Faversham further up the Kent coast.
I had located a free car park close to the Albion pub alongside Faversham Creek in the centre of Faversham. I now had to get back to Swale where I would begin today’s walk. I walked through the deserted town centre, which was very pretty, particularly the Elizabethan Guildhall with its wooden underlying timbers. I caught a train first to Sittingbourne then connected for the short journey to Swale on the Sheerness bound train. There were few people about and all including the staff wore face masks.
I had walked through Swale when I first walked to Sheppey back in March. For the life of me I could not understand why a train station was built there, because apart from the small train halt, there was nothing else around it. I made my way across the road and picked up a small road for a short distance that lead onto the sea bank and the Saxon Shore Way, which I would remain on for the rest of the day.
It was another lovely summer’s day, but not as windy as yesterday. Today’s walk would be following the River Swale eastwards on its sea bank with a number of inland incursions to get around various creeks. The first obstacle was Ridham Dock which involved a minor inland diversion before emerging back on the sea wall. Large scale industry dominates this area and none more so than the newly built Wheelabrator Kemsley K3 generating power and heat station, producing 50Mw from recycled waste material and supplying all the electrical power to the adjacent large paper mill. The coloured rectangular panels are a striking feature on the local landscape.
I passed around the old landfill sites at Kemsley Marshes and entered the first of the inland creeks which run into The Swale, this one was Milton Creek. I had to walk about a mile before I was able to cross over the creek via a busy road bridge. It was then a case of following the Saxon Shore way back out to the Swale. For the next 5 to 6 miles I stayed on the sea bank which had good views across The Swale to the Isle of Sheppey. Apart from a small incursion to get around Conyer Creek, the walking underfoot was excellent. My feet started to ache again, but I knew I could easily get to the end of the walk.
As I approached Uplees Marshes I could see the foundations of what I thought where old military type buildings, in fact they were once part of huge explosives factory and the scene of a tragic accident in 1916. A massive explosion of 15 tons of TNT and 150 tons of ammonium nitrate led to 116 men and boys losing their lives with the shock wave shattering windows in Southend and the tremor felt in Norwich. I was not aware of this event as I continued along the sea bank, but I later found out that most of the dead were buried in a communal grave in Faversham cemetery.
My final incursion inland took me across Oare Marshes following the Oare Creek and thence back out on the other side to join up with Faversham Creek and the walk around Ham Marshes and into Faversham itself.
Distance today = 18 miles
Total distance = 5,930 miles
Walking the Coast of Great Britain 
Faversham is a lovely town I remember enjoying my wander around there too. You found some interesting history of the area I didn’t know, especially the explosives factory. The station at Swale is an odd one I think it is to do with the lifting section of the bridge, possibly for the staff operating the bridge to get to it. It’s useful for the coastal walker, though! Shame the tide was low I think those creeks would look a lot better with water in rather than mud.
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