Kent: Sittingbourne to Faversham 24/5/2010***

 

Looking across the Swale to Sheppey   Male lizard   Oare Creek   Hog's fennel

The start of the walk from the centre of Sittingbourne was dreary, busy roads passing through industrial estates, although we did see both London rocket and coriander by the roadsides. Where the footpath was supposed to link with the Milton Creek embankment we found it had been closed for building work and we had to follow an alternative inland route by the Stadium and through a rubbish dump with smoking refuse and a caravan park, whose sewage seemed to be going straight into a pond.  Past here we walked through Little Murston Nature Reserve, which had only a few water birds, and finally along the embankment beside The Swale.  A couple and their dog were walking beside the reserve’s lakes, so no wonder there were few birds in evidence.  The embankment was very straight eastwards, with tall grass each side, from which newly emerged crane-flies continually emerged to blunder into our faces and bodies.  After a couple of kilometres we reached a major inlet to Conyer.  Across the water we could see a pub and looked forward to a cooling drink.  A marshy area just before the village had edible frogs.  We also heard, and then saw, more turtle doves.  Around the marina we finally gained the short village road and the pub, but the latter was closed.  We continued north to rejoin the embankment by The Swale.  We immediately went down to the foreshore of saltmarsh turf to sit on a platform mainly of thrift to eat lunch. We were looking directly across to Fowley Island that had flocks of nesting black-headed gulls.  Beyond rose the Isle of Sheppey.  After lunch we had another long stretch of embankments directly eastwards with a sight of a pair of shoveler in The Swale.  We also saw some grass vetchling, masses of salsify, many clown bugs, and a mallard nest with two eggs in long grass right beside the path.  We passed demolished army camps on our way to Oare Marshes bird reserve.  The visitor centre was closed and we could see few birds of interest apart from a couple of redshanks.  We did, however, see a male lizard crossing the grass turf at the point where Oare Creek enters the Swale.  We now continued up this creek towards Oare and Davington, which merge into Faversham.  The muddy creek was full of boats.  A pond had more green frogs that may have been hybrids between marsh and edible.  At Oare there was a road across the head of the creek and the footpath left north up the other side of the creek, away from Faversham, to carry on round Ham Marshes, bounded on the north and east sides by Faversham Creek.  When we reached the meeting-point of Oare and Faversham Creeks there was a welcome pub – but again it was closed!  This path was unremarkable (apart from lots of little egrets) until we encountered small-flowered buttercup and hundreds of hog’s fennel plants along the embankment at the point where the path began to go south and for half a kilometre on from there.  Finally we reached Faversham, after passing downwind of sewage works across the creek.  A new highly secure housing development had been built right up to the water and eliminated the footpath.  This meant a long detour round the housing and a factory behind it.  Just before returning to the creek bank we encountered a slow-worm crossing the path, disturbed by a dog.  We watched it safely into the rough vegetation out of sight.  We walked along a grass embankment under planted trees called Front Brents, with Albion Taverna on our right.  A bridge crossed Faversham Creek and led to the town centre and the pedestrianised West Street where we are lodging for the night at The Sun.  We walked back to Albion Taverna for a very hot and impossibly large Mexican meal and pints of Shepherd Neame Master Brew, whose brewery we had just passed.