Nick Ardley
Ahead is strangely-named Horrid Hill: a luscious bundle of greenery. Closer, one sees the remnants of its industrial past, cement. Once an island, but connected by a causeway when industrialised, foundations strew a wilderness on the foreshore. On a bench, courting couples are often seen, oblivious to passing craft.
Running under the southern shore of Nore Marsh, the heady tang of saline marsh fills the air; I breathe deeply. We sail out into Pinup Reach between the twin forts on Darnet Ness and Folly Point and sail through Hoo’s middle creeks to Rochester, then moor at Upnor. Monday dawns and home calls. We depart well before the ebb has done, sailing the river route past the bustle of Gillingham’s waterfront housing explosion. Reaching past Bishop Marsh, I point out the cement works remnants. My crew are perplexed thinking of Victorian industriousness in such a wild and desolate spot. Across the river, the early 1960s power station is under demolition. Change is continuous. We clear Oakham Ness, an island too, into Kethole Reach. Close by is the wreck of the HMS Bulwark which catastrophically blew up in November 1914 whilst loading munitions. Only 14 men survived.
Up among Stoke Ooze sit a plethora of marshy mounds. Nestling against one, set deep in cord grass, is a ghostly First World War U-Boat. A spritsail barge snuggles alongside. Down Saltpan, we’re passing Burntwick again. A Kent stock yellow brick chimney stands prominent. Away to starboard the long Medway shore of Grain, not an island now, runs out into Sea Reach. We fetch round the shallows, hugging her. Later, sailing up the Ray Channel, homebound, my crew chorus, ‘Wonderful...’ Yes indeed. Nick has sailed around the Medway many times, starting when he was a child living aboard the barge May Flower until the late 1970s. Nick got married and introduced his wife to sailing, and they now share a love of salt, marsh and mud. They had Whimbrel, a Finesse 24, built in 1983 and she has been part of the family ever since. Nick has written several books about sailing the East Coast. www.nickardley.com