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We
parked at the Village Hall car-park in Allhallows, as this had plenty of room
and seemed quiet, while the roads are narrow and busy. This meant a kilometre walk down to
Allhallows-on-Sea through the Leisure
Park to rejoin the Thames
embankment. This way was thoroughly
mown, so much that there was little tall vegetation all day and therefore few
bees or butterflies. As usual the path
was dominated by hoary cress, alexanders and spotted medick with some patches
of bur chervil. Below the embankment
beside the river there was plenty of sea wormwood. On the other side of the embankment was the
usual dyke, but this time very noisy with loud croaking. On closer examination we found it full of marsh
frogs, with distinct olive markings, the females large and fat, with strings
of spawn between their back legs. We
realised that this was the commotion we had heard during our lunch yesterday,
when we were too far from that ditch to investigate. This noise dominated the rest of the day, so
these frogs are well established in Allhallows Marshes and Stoke Saltings. There were also many herons around these pools and we later saw
one flying off with a fat frog dangling from its beak, a substantial meal for
its chicks. We turned the corner
southwards beside Yantlet Creek. In a
couple of kilometres was an embankment east across the head of the creek. Although gated, the gate was open, despite
various warning notices that just fell short of prohibiting entry. This gave access to the most direct route to
the Isle of Grain and so we followed the embankments, with MOD land to our
left, to West Lane
leading into the village. The main
road to the left led to the shore, where a grassy area with uncomfortable
metal seats overlooked the beach of (lower down) mud and (at the top) piles
of cockle shells. The path northwards
was truncated by erosion of the clay cliffs and the beach was strewn with
boulders from collapsed coastal defences. In any case, one could not get far before a
fence cut off the MOD area. Returning,
we had lunch on one of the painful seats and then continued south along the
concrete embankment with grass on the inside as far as Grain Power Station. Our intended path inland here was blocked by
new construction work and we had to return the way we’d come before we could
branch off to the centre of Grain and take the road south, the only way in
and out of the village for vehicles. It
ran through large industrial works, London Thamesport, and was busy with
large lorries but fortunately there was a pavement. It was hot, sunny and humid, making it even
less enjoyable, but we soon reached the A228, where the pavement continued to
the level crossing across the industrial railway, but then ran out! We had to run across the road on the railway
lines and at a bend to resume the pavement on the other side. This only continued as far as the factories
and we had to walk the last half kilometre on narrow overgrown verge, the
only way to the start of the footpath around Stoke Saltings which left the
road here. This is a Wildfowlers and
Conservation Association reserve, but there was little difference from
previous saltmarsh areas, except in the amount of slender (or seaside)
thistle growing on the seaward side of the embankment, and several pairs of
pochard on the lakes with the usual coots and a pair of nesting great crested
grebe. A micro-light kept flying over
with a loud drone. With the noise of
the main road traffic and the sounds of frogs, this made for a less than
quiet countryside experience. We
eventually arrived at the railway again by Middle Stoke. Here there were instructions about opening
the two gates and looking both ways before crossing, penalty £1000 for
disobeying. Both gates were chained
and locked! We had to climb over both,
and we got across only just before a train screamed by hooting loudly. We walked up the lane into Middle Stoke and
then across the A228 again to Lower Stoke and the Nags Head pub, where the
main bus stop was, but we had just missed one bus and it was over a hour to
the next, while we were now no more than a mile from our car, so we decided
to walk the extra mile. Before doing
so I visited the advertised conveniences, only to find them locked! On arriving at Allhallows we found the gates
to the Village Hall car-park were also locked, with our car inside! We were fortunate that it did not take long
to get help with opening them, so our despair at least evaporated quickly.
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Marsh
frog spawning
Grain
Power Station: path closed
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Beach,
Isle of Grain
Cockles
and mussels
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Sea
defences
Hoary
cress & slender thistle
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