Jane’s Walk 2025 – Day 3
This morning’s forecast is heavy rain and wind, especially in the middle of the day. We start walking early, well protected with our heavy-duty rain gear. Today we walk along the shoreline from Hoo St Werburgh, and it is certainly wet and windy but quite warm. This is where the Medway River joins the Thames, and it is full of anchored small sailing boats. No one is out sailing today because of the weather. It is obviously a very popular sailing spot, and we pass a number of sailing clubs offering tuition for all levels.
At Lower Upnor Wharf, we pass the imposing figurehead of Arethusa, recently restored. She was from HMS Arethusa, which was the last British warship to go into battle under sail. We walk down a charming, narrow street of old Upnor, and I can imagine the life of the sailors and their families living there for many generations, dedicated to their maritime pursuits in that tiny village.
The path then takes up a steep hill, bypassing Upnor Castle. Another Norman castle overlooking the estuary. Unfortunately, it is hidden behind high walls and is privately owned. Through Upper Upnor and over the busy A289 just before it disappears into the tunnel under the Medway. We walk alongside a high fence separating a naval training centre and the path, and are shocked by the huge amount of rubbish, bottles, cans, and even supermarket trolleys chucked over the fence into the bushes! Eventually, we cross over the river on the Rochester Road Bridge, which is next to the rail bridge.
Rochester is a charming old town with its imposing castle and cathedral. We had a happy evening last night at a fish restaurant on the High Street, so it was nice to come back in the daylight. The old town is well supplied with small shops and restaurants, with endless plaques on the house walls giving interesting historical facts of what happened there in the past. It must have been a very important city in its heyday. We would have liked to have looked round the cathedral and the castle but sadly there was not the time. The suburbs were sadly more run down with a number of high rise buildings, some belonging to the University, in a very poor state, derelict with broken windows and graffiti.
It’s time for lunch as it has been a long morning. We end up in a Tesco superstore which has a restaurant. As we arrive the heavens open and the rain deluges down. We begin to think that at this rate we really can’t continue our walk but after a while the sun comes out and we can continue on our way. We walk into Gillingham, which is very different from Rochester and walk down much more ethnically diverse shopping streets, well supplied with nail bars, tattoo parlours, vaping shops as well as very well stocked vegetable market stalls.
Our end point is back on the estuary just 2 miles from our accommodation of the past 3 nights in Chatham. We are glad to finish as both our feet and Moses’s feet are aching having been mainly on pavements all day!
