By Tony Roberts on May 16, 2005.
Mention the Isle of SHEPPEY to most people and they laugh. MikeOR points out that the island is home to Europe's largest manufacturer of garden gnomes. Once over that drab and depressing Kingsferry bridge, you might find yourself losing the will to live.
But any port in a storm! Our planned DORSET trip was called off because the wind was blowing the wrong way and to save wasting our hard-earned kayaking tokens, we needed a day trip that made sense in EASTERLY weather with a RISING tide. We decided to paddle WEST from WHITSTABLE across the bay into the SWALE, have lunch on SHEPPEY and then explore the CREEKS in the afternoon (Conyer, Oare, or Faversham). Five of us did the trip (MikeOR, DaveT, NickJ, SeanF and myself).
Various of us had paddled bits of the Swale before, but the 6km open crossing was new, and presented a few challenges, not least in 20 kts of wind (F5). We drew comfort from the knowledge that both wind and tide would be at our backs, and would always be pushing us into the sheltered waters of the Swale. The rising tide also guaranteed we wouldn't get "beached" a long way offshore.
We planned an "A to B" trip, which meant dropping a rescue car at our finishing point on the way out from London. We chose HARTY FERRY (South) as this has a 24 hour slipway and car park. It's NW of FAVERSHAM, 5 miles off the M2 at J4 and past the village of OARE. A bird-watching hide by the water's edge is normally open during the day, but today it was closed due to vandalism. Sean seemed untroubled as we drove off leaving his beloved Mercedes parked all alone in vandal territory...
Our chosen START point was the beach in front of the Continental Hotel at WHITSTABLE (CT5 2BP) which has waterfront parking (free for the moment, but meters are just being installed) and public toilets. We were setting out 1 hour after LW. The beach here is quite steep, so it's not too far to walk, and is mosly of shingle.
With wind and tide support, the crossing to SHELL NESS should theoretically have taken around 45 minutes. This was way too optimistic! Once away from the beach and past the harbour, the conditions were immediately tricky, leading to a capsize and recovery within the first 5 minutes! Bit by bit, though, we got the feel of the water and settled into a kind of rhythm. We headed due WEST at first towards Shell Ness, but this took us further into uncomfortable water. After a quick conference, we diverted SOUTH WEST for the psychological security of the "beach" (actually just kilometers of mud, but it feels better!). This routing put us back towards the surf zone, but as Dave pointed out, the whole sea around us was effectively surf zone anyway.
Approaching the mouth of the Swale, things had not really got much easier, but we decided anyway to cross to Shell Ness, rather than miss our planned stopping point. All went well till we hit a Swale tidal stream, which produced a confused sea, with waves running in 2 directions at once. By this time, Nick was also struggling a bit with the trim of his boat and began wishing he'd packed it differently ("Neutral", he concludes afterwards!). We duly rafted up and discussed things.
There is something quite reassuring about rafting up in rough water. The boats might bounce around alarmingly, but you realise what a sense of security you are enjoying when the time comes to separate! Suddenly you have to start bracing again just to stay upright. Luckily, we were already drifting into calmer water, and soon afterwards encountered one of those pleasures of shoal water paddling, the "disappearing island". This was just a patch of sandbank not yet covered by the tide, about a kilometer offshore. It wasn't much, but it gave us somewhere to land, to adjust boats and hold that most essential sea kayakers' ceremony - the tea break.
By now, we had missed our original destination of Shell Ness, but headed North across the Swale anyway, for our lunch date at the "Ferry Inn" on Sheppey. This stretch of water is really rather nice. Avocets "occur" here. A group of them were busily occurring as we passed.
The HARTY FERRY INN at Harty Ferry Road, Harty Ferry (ME12 4BQ) is an unusual pub. Since the ferry no longer runs, driving there from England takes the best part of an hour - the last 15 minutes being down a narrow track track that's alive with game, and dotted with road signs imploring you not to run over said game. For somewhere just 70 km from London as the crow flies, this is amazingly isolated. Until recently they had just their own generator for electricity, and (AFAIK) even today there is no mains water supply. Nonetheless, the pub serves food every day and is welcoming even to "wet people". The 24 hr slipway makes for easy landing by kayak, and avoids getting the horrible Swale mud on that nice clean paddle (yuk). You can camp in the pub garden for £5 per tent per night, as Nick and I did when circumnavigating Sheppey last year.
"Kayaking and Pubs" don't mix, I hear you say. Agreed, but Kayaking and Pheasant-casserole-with-herb-dumplings is another matter, trust me ! In the event, none of drank any alcohol anyway. Not everyone likes pubs of course: Nick spent the lunchtime fishing (and caught nothing). Mike went beachcombing (and found nothing). Perhaps there's a moral here. Possibly involving Pheasant casserole with herb dumplings.
Crossing back from Sheppy to "England" was not too onerous. We first headed back along the shoreline into the wind, then picked a water track which correctly dropped us in the entrance to Oare/Faversham creeks. The water was calm enough here to enjoy surfing the final run in. LizS, KatrinN and I had done OARE creek last time, so this time we chose FAVERSHAM. Both creeks make a nice contrast to the more exposed water in the Estuary and Swale. It's a 5 km run from the entrance to where the water ends in Faversham Town, at a patch of reeds and a grassy bank facing the Shepherd Neame brewery.
Perhaps it was the sight of Thames barges and town centre buildings, perhaps the colour-supplement waterfront property - but our urban instincts took over at this point. Paddle back against that wind? No thanks! TAXI! ... and 10 minutes later, our drivers were on their way back to recover Sean's abandonned Mercedes...
All in all, this was a pleasant day's paddling that provided us with some good practice at "wave handling" skills without taking too many risks (the stern rudder in following seas, the signature low brace on top of the larger waves, and "paddling on both sides of the crest" when beaming). Being only about an hour from London, this is ideal terrain for day paddling, with a variety of different water conditions and something possible in almost any weather. With 2 excellent "wet friendly" pubs on hand, there's also easy access and food and drink. Did I mention the Pheasant casserole with herb dumplings?