In early spring 2025 I decided on the Kent coast as a new project.
The England Coast Path is largely open in the county, save for a section east of the Medway and the Isle of Sheppey. The rail links from Stratford International means that accessibility from my home in Essex is no great problem.
I’ve previously walked some short sections, but I will find much that is new to me too. I’m starting in north Kent and working clockwise. My account starts with the Swale to Margate section, which I walked in March 2025.
It’s the only ‘live’ link at the moment, but the buttons below will turn green as I make my way round the coast.
Faversham Creek
The ECP isn’t the first coast path in Kent. That honour goes to the Saxon Shore Way, which runs from Gravesend and across the county boundary to Hastings. But the SSW follows, as you might expect, the coast as it was in Saxon times, and that is often very different to the shoreline now. The principal differences are the exclusion of Thanet – then, very much an offshore island – and west of Dover, by reason of the later drainage of Romney Marsh.