Coastwalk

Faversham → Sittingbourne

Distance: 14.9 miles
Ascent: 138 metres
Duration: 4 hours 33 minutes

Discarded shells
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Faversham is a delightful town. There's a dock on the creek, but the town centre is a little further inland. The railway station is further still, so I've had to walk through the centre twice now. It seems to be a town of narrow streets, a traditional square with wooden-framed buildings, a church with a graceful, slender spire and an independent cinema.

For most of today I've walked along the sea wall: a grassy embankment separating the muddy Swale to my right from the marshland to the left. Every few paces, discarded mussel shells litter the path and I think back to the fishermen I saw north of Deal, and those who lost their lives last week in Morcambe Bay.

As I dropped into Conyer - my lunch-stop - I passed a couple with a ten-year old girl. "Come from Faversham?" he asked. "Going to Sittingbourne?" They were undertaking the exact walk in the opposite direction. We swapped notes about the path and moved on. I'm still impressed that none of them - the girl included - didn't flinch when I reported they still had eight and a half miles to go.