March on the Medway 2014

I'm starting to really love the Medway.
 There is some thing intangible about the vast, flat openness of the Medway, the proliferation of wildlife, the temporal landscape of the Salt Marshes and the pathos of a post industrial landscape that make it a intriguing and mystical place. My intention was to sail from Queenborough to Fort Darnet using the tide to take me there and back with the decent F3  from the wind south east to assist.

I got to Queenborough at around 9am with about 4 hours to go before high tide.
I still managed to get lost on the way, although the route I took was through the blossoming apple orchards of Kent, so quite beautiful.

As I assembled the canoe for the first time this year the air was very still, not much in the way of the force 3 winds forecast. Although I hoped that the winds would pick up later in the day.

The Slipway onto the Swale 

The tide was still well out as I put in on the Swale.

 as the flood tide enters the mouth of the Medway from the Thames estuary it also flows up the Swale.

With little or no wind a bit of paddling against the tide was called for.

Some coastal shipping entered the mouth of the Swale, coming up on the tide, luckily I was well off to the side of the shipping channel.

With no wind I thought it was a good time to explore a little of Deadman's Island.

Deadman's Island; so called as its where the victims of the quarantined ships, or possibly of French prisoners of war,were buried. There are small beaches between the banks of mud...

... consisting of a plethora of tiny shells...

As soon as I landed on the Island some of the dead men became apparent. The waves are gradually eroding the island and exposing the graves. 

As I was walking about a couple of skiffs made their way up the Swale. One landed in an adjacent beach and I had a chat with the skipper. He is a member of the Community harbour at Queenborough, who took over the running of it after the Council bailed out and threatened to close it

After a while I decided I would press on into the Medway and let the tide carry me into the estuary. 

Another skiff appeared from Queenborough rowing club; Sexburga (named after an Anglo-Saxon Queen) we had a good chat on the water.  The guys at the stern also run Sheerness Sailing club and are the organisers of the 40 mile Isle of Sheppy  Round the Island Race and were very keen that sailing canoes should take part. Unfortunately this years race clashes with an event I'm hosting on the River Dart estuary in Devon. 

With what little wind there was behind me ,I set off into the Estuary, heading towards the mouth of Stangate creek, marked by a line of electricity pylons that run through Chetney marshes.

Once past the mouth of Stangate I kept to the edge of Burntwick Island, there were loads of sea birds swirling about excited by the rising tide which was now flooding the salt marshes.

Even with very little wind the tide was pushing me at a terrific pace. if you watch the video you can see how fast I was moving in what was no more the a F1 wind on my back. 

I started to think about how I was going to get back to the Swale without a decent wind even with the ebbing tide to help. I pulled up on a beach to look for Fort Darnet. I couldn't see it looking far down into the estuary even with my binoculars.

 I had some lunch and put out again into the still flooding tide, I thought i would see if I could make any progress against the tide to reassure my self I could get back if needed.Paddling at full volume I could only just about hold my position. Thats when I bottled it and decided not to go any further into the estuary, even though I knew the ebb tide would be in my favour coming back

By now the tide was flooding into Burntwick island, I could get away from the strong currents of the  main channel and, by lifting my rudder and leeboard , paddle myself in and over the Island. 

I was able to paddle myself back towards the mouth of Stangate creek.

Right on one the mouth is a concrete gun emplacement occupying the high ground. I pulled my canoe up behind it and decided to sit and wait for the top of the tide.After a little while the wind began to fill in nicely. Although it was now coming from the North East rather then the South East.

Looking down the Medway from the mouth of Stangate creek

Just a little below the gun emplacement are the remains of the barracks that housed the men who manned the guns, I decided to sail over the island to have a look...

The old barrack block

I was then able to paddle onto Stangate creek proper,unfurl the sail fully and get some decent sailing in with the wind finally blowing the Force 3 the forecast had promised.

The sunshine was getting a bit murkier so I decided I would head back towards Queensborough. There were a couple of wrecks I had noticed on Chetney marshes. On the top of the tide I was able to sail right up to them..

Gladys of Dover was a large sailing barge. There's a really nice story about its history here.

there was another wreck, name unknown....

Just beyond this wreck are a line of posts delineating Shepard's Creek; its only accessible at high tide, it winds its way between Deadman's Creek and Tailness Marshes providing a short cut from the Medway to the Swale.

I tacked my way along the creek back to the swale, a last bit of excitement afforded by the sight of the Sheerness lifeboat towing in a yacht to Queenborough that presumably had an engine failure.

Once back off the high water meaning it was only a few meters back to trolley my canoe back to the  the seawall I loaded my canoe and had a swift half in the friendly Yacht Club.

One day I'll make it Darnet Fort , but I'm in no hurry, theres a lot to see on the way!