Gravesend to Rochester
A station-to-station walkKentSouth East England
Views across the marshes on either side are beautiful. A varied walk with a wonderful, peaceful section along the naturalised Thames and Medway Canal (NCN route 1) across the marshes, plus arable fields, a steep wooded valley, frustrating and sometimes overgrown urban sections through Strood and Rochester. Some grazing-marsh paths can become very wet and impassable after a wet season; the Rochester end has noisy busy roads. The canal section follows Sustrans NCN route 1 and teems with wildlife: warblers, whitethroats, cuckoos, lapwings, a marsh harrier and semi-wild ponies. The route can be shortened to Higham Station, and the statue of Pocahontas stands in St George's churchyard in Gravesend.
Lunch: A shop in Higham village is about 1km off the route.
Warnings: Grazing-marsh paths near Church Street can be impassably wet after a wet winter and spring. Several busy roads near the Rochester/Strood end. If the Thames Path is closed, the official Milton Road diversion adds road walking. Can be muddy.
Credits
Walk details: Slow Ways.