This is a continuation of the last blog entry from which I had to pause momentarily for a trip across the water from Tilbury to Gravesend for series of ‘Ghosting’ talks and a Night Walk from Gravesend to Ebbsfleet, as part of the Night Walking North Kent Festival organised by Inspiral London. (There will be more about that in a later blog entry).
Picking up from the last blog entry, I momentarily found myself disoriented on my route from Tilbury Ferry Port on my way towards Thurrock Nature Reserve and Visitor Centre, on a stretch of dry turned over mud, a site being cleared, I think, as part of a landscaping and redevelopment programme of brown field sites in the area. Eventually, this will connect up to the other footpaths so that there is a continuous path from Tilbury to the London Gateway Port along the river. Clearly, this wasn’t at that stage yet and I found myself running towards a construction site on a pontoon with cranes, at the edge of river. A tall wire-mesh fence surrounded the worksite and although the entrance was wide open (presumably for trucks to go through), a number of signs told me this was a no-access area. I paused for a moment to contemplate my next movements before deciding I had no option but to continue on my way around the outside of the fence. This area was completely barren and there was no-one in sight, but I was in view of the river so I knew I was going in the right direction.
After a few moments of running on lumpy, uneven dried mud I finally caught sight of the Visitor Centre on the other side of a mound of cleared earth and a wire fence. Getting around this to where I wanted to be was easier said than done: clearly the area I found myself in was still a work in progress and there appeared to be no connecting paths into the Nature Reserve on the other side of the fence. I back-tracked a little and decided to follow the mound of earth running alongside the fence, where I thought I might soon find a way in. Frustratingly, as I reached the top of a slope, I could see a footpath just the other side of the fence, but still no open way in ahead of me. To avoid an unnecessary detour I decided that I would chance it and scale the fence, after all it was only waist high. I worked out that if I could climb onto one of the supporting wooden posts I would be able to avoid my clothes catching on the barbed wire at the top.
This strategy worked and after a bit of careful manoeuvring, I was back on track on the footpath that would take me through the meandering paths of the Nature Reserve and onto Stanford Marshes. This brought me back to the edge of Estuary where the river a wide expanse and I could soon see the white outline of the London Gateway Port next to a stack of colourful containers on the horizon ahead. The last section took me past a railway crossing and back along the inside of the river wall, where after a short stretch I could go no further, except into the water and the Super Port and a myriad of busy roads loomed before me. At the railway crossing I had passed a very helpful man , who had told me that there had previously been a path through to the edge of the port to the jetty on the other side, where people used to fish but that access had now been closed off. He also told me the quickest route back to the nearest rail station at Stanford-le-hope: although I had realised it previously, he reminded me that it would be a good 2 mile walk to get there.
As I walked slowly back towards rail station I pondered on how I would get round the port with out having to tackle the busy A1014 that encircles it, should take this route on the north side of the river.
