We had breakfast and then decided to forgo the trip to Tesco and to head out for a walk and take photographs instead. Nearer to London that the Isle of Sheppy on the Thames Estuary is the Isle of Grain, which is no longer an island, but is still called one nonetheless.
Grain is flat with rolling low hills, more like folds in an unruly duvet, and is home to two power stations and a large container port. It is unusual for sure, but interesting in that is different.
So, we head up the A2 past the tower of Canterbury Cathedral and then up the M2 with views over the Sheppy, past the Medway towns and then onto the Isle itself. On the banks of the River Medway is the massive tower of Kingsnorth power station, although just gently steaming and not generating electricity. We park up on a slight rise next to a farm and photograph the power station from under massive pylons.
Happy with that, we drive on to the town of Grain itself, there, there is another power station, and a massive column of steam rose from cooling fans of the other power station. It rose into a clear blue sky, with barely a breath of wind to disturb it before it peters out.
We park beside a large flood defensive wall, grass covered, and set out for a walk along it. We had view over mud flats and to the salt marshes beyond. Further away Kingsnorth steamed quietly. Etched into the mud were the foot tracks of countless water birds and paths of water run off making wonderful squiggly patterns in the mud. Abandoned boats lay half covered in the mud and weeds too, making it feel like a part of the world that people had forgotten.
We walked back to the car and drove into the village itself. It is a quite undistinguished place, overshadowed as it is by huge industry and power generation and the docks from Grain's Thamesport and the cranes on Sheppy too. We parked up at the edge of the village and walked to the sea wall and saw what we had come to see.
All around the southern coast is a series of forts and castles, from many different periods of history. There are Tudor castles, Napoleonic forts and WW1 and WW2 gun emplacements. Grain has a fort built 600 yards on the mudflats, erected in the middle of the 19th century, enlarged for guns in WW1 and WW2 and promptly abandoned in 1946. It is reached by a causeway at low tide, and is quite stunning, if not beautiful. By more than luck than our planning, we had come at low tide, and so set off over the mudflats with firm stone path beneath our feet to the fort.
It felt quite odd to be so far out over mud that could have us waist deep if we wandered from the path, it was broken in places, but felt safe enough. I felt we had walked for ages, but looking back to shore I saw that we were less than 100 yards from the safety of the shore.
But, in time we made it to the slight stone bank on what the fort was built upon, we walked around it, snapping away. But, I kept thinking I could hear running water, and deciding it be better, we headed for the shore.
The sky was reflected in the water between the ripples of the mud. It felt very good to reach the shore, and looking back the tower seemed unimpressed with it's encounter with us.
We head back to the car and have a mid-morning snack of a nearly life-expired chicken wrap from Tesco and a bag of Quavers, whilst looking over the Thames to Southend over in Essex.
I snapped a church at the edge of the beach, seems like it's tower had been rebuilt in the last hundred years, and the tower somehow was shorter than the roof of the church, making it look quite odd.
On the way back to Dover we stopped off that the Medway bridges that carry the M2 and the new high speed rail lane to and from London. I wanted to get a shot of one of the Highspeed trains as last time I was here the shot was not as good as I wanted. And so we waited and waiting, and then we saw the approaching lights of a train over the valley, and at great speed the train thundered towards us; I set the camera up and waited for the train to get into frame, and then press the shutter and the camera went whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And I had dozens of shots, the final one being the shot I had wanted.
We resisted the temptation of going into Burger King at the services on the way home, and instead braved the crowds of early afternoon at Tesco and did our weekly shop. Not quite as bad as it felt at the time, we were in and out in half an hour.
We had been invited for dinner at friends in Ashford, and so had a bit to eat when we got home and then got ready to drive along the motorway to Ashford.
Matt and Dadi have moved into what is a replica of an oast house, and they live in the flat in the roof, it is very nice, and since I was last there two weeks ago they have had more furniture delivered and I am sure it feels more like home for them.
Dadi cooked goulash for us, which was very good, and whilst we ate we chatted about life and all that stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment