What's Wrong With Hempstead?

I have gone for walkabouts in Hempstead several times now, as well as my carrying of the Medway Millennium Torch through some of that area some years previously. I have never taken any photographs there or reported in any detail on my treks around the place. Why is this?

The truth is that I don't really like Hempstead very much: there's something about it that jars with me. It took me a while to work it out, including my most recent jaunt there last month; and it turns out that it is too hidden.

I first noticed this on an accidental diversion through there by a new driver of the Chatham Salvation Army minibus (we ended up arriving late as a consequence, that evening!) and have checked it out, on the ground, fairly extensively since then.

I have noticed that very little of the place is ever visible from any of the significant roads or places. It gives the impression that it is somewhat secretive – not in a hostile way, but more a matter of being very private. The design and construction of all the parts I have ever visited has borne this out, with no exception. Contrast this with, say, Princes Park, which is so much more open and visible, and there really is no contest.

Hempstead might well be 'posh' and almost certainly the safest Conservative area in Medway, but ir really isn't my kind of place. That said, it obviously appeals to many others who have chosen to live there; so this is not a poor reflection on Hempstead itself, merely my own tastes and feelings.

Within that context, I hope that readers here will thus understand the reasons why I have not felt inclined to report in detail after any of those walkabouts: it could well have been perceived, with some legitimacy, as an unfair commentary.

Note that this is hugely different from my findings at Twydall, which were valid and needed to be reported at the time of my visit, which I did. One day I might go back there, by the way, though not just yet...

Medway Monday 24 June 2013 – The Longest Loop photos

A couple of weeks or so back, I told you of my extraordinary trek along the A2 main road, across a (big!) golf course and through woodlands to arrive back at my starting point, much to my surprise at the time.

I subsequently decided that I'd return to take some photographs of at least part of that long route, though missing out those long sections, at least for the time being. I might venture along the whole of that huge journey again one day, armed with a camera, but for now here are nearly thirty pictures which, with captions, tell at least some of the rest of the story...

The starting point, after the 'bus ride to Strood: Bligh Way shops

Just round the corner, in Albatross Avenue, I spotted this

Ah, so that's what this place is

Approaching the opposite side of the Recreation Ground

And this is where it comes out

Up Sharfleet Drive and into The Shades

Around that bend is this spot, with a way onto the main road

This is that main road: the A2 Watling Street, heading west in this view

This is just the beginning...

Looking down on the M2 motorway. Now we jump in the story...

...to the exit from Ranscombe Farm Reserve, much later!

Medway's Miracle, as David Bellamy termed this place

All that metal fencing was for the high speed rail line, which we now cross

Narrow path, even narrower aperture through that bike barrier!

The other end of that access path over the railway

Looks like something might be up ahead...

Yes, it's a bridge carrying the M2 motorway; but there's no way up from here

Hmm, a long track that way. It led to a building and a dead end

How about on the other side of that road bridge?

Doesn't look promising to the right...

...definitely nothing to the left...

...and ahead looks like yet another farm, so I assumed a dead end

However, when I asked, I was directed along that very path

Now this looks vaguely familiar from somewhere...

Real signs of civilisation ahead, the first I'd encountered in 3 hours!

Well, would you believe it? It's actually Bligh Way shops again, just down there!

The Longest Loop

This week, while we have had sunny days, I have been going walkabout again – not with the intention of reporting on any of these treks around places within Medway, but just as preliminaries.

Today's was highly unusual, starting with a 'bus ride to the Bligh Way shopping parade in Strood. I trekked around the immediate area for a while, most notably Albatross Avenue, before crossing the Knights Place Recreation Ground, ending up in Sharfleet Drive, leading to The Shades and onto the A2 Watling Street. The place and road names aren't essential, especially to non-locals, but can be looked up and viewed in the likes of Google Maps by anyone sufficiently interested.

Anyway, I headed west, crossing over the M2 motorway and continuing on past a farm-cum-equestrian training centre, eventually finding a place to turn off before I headed too far out of Medway. This led under a bridge for the high speed rail line, and to the only alternative to another farm: the Rochester and Cobham Park Golf Club.

Fortunately, there is a public footpath across the course, though one does need to be wary of flying golf balls, especially those coming at speed. It is advisable to cross as quickly as possible!

Unfortunately, probably because of my very poor sight these days, part-way across I lost track of the indicators showing which way the public footpath was going, and I had to ask a group of golfers – but it was their first time on the course, so they didn't know either. One of them did spot a yellow-tipped post and pointed me toward that. After waiting for them to deliver their drives in that general direction, I headed that way and found it was indeed a footpath marker.

Finally reaching the far side, I emerged into a backtrack leading left and right – no signposts or other indications of where it led, though. I struck off in one direction, which looked promising though it felt to me to probably be the wrong way. That ended in a farm. I headed back.

The other way was long, oh so long. I encountered the local woods caretaker (the place was like a collection of woodlands) on a bicycle, who said that Cobham had been down the way I had just been; but Strood was up ahead in this my current direction, but around three miles (5km) away. Well, I don't know of a way to get home from Cobham, so it seemed I was in for the long haul.

This by now wearying trek took me past an unlabelled monument, via cattle grids with side gates for humans, and eventually led me into Ranscombe Farm Reserve. Wow! I had hoped to visit this botanical nature reserve one day, and now here it was before me. As no less a personage than David Bellamy had described it, the place was indeed "Medway's miracle", and well worth a visit, I can now state from experience.

The far end of that came out into a narrow footpath that led to a bridge with the M2 motorway (again!) running overhead, but with no obvious way back to civilisation. There simply was no connection, and I tried the paths on both sides of the bridge that ran in parallel with the motorway. I ignored one leading away from the road on the opposite side.

Eventually I realised I was stumped, so had to ask a couple of young ladies who were sitting under the bridge intently doing whatever on their mobile 'phones. They were very kind, and pointed me to the path I had previously ignored, giving me very clear directions concerning a car park, some flats and a large pub', getting me to a 'bus stop.

I was amazed to discover that it was the car park on the edge of Knights Place Recreation Ground, which I had traversed nearly three hours before, and that I was back at the Bligh Way shops! I never had an inkling that the seemingly remote place I had been just minutes before was so close to this or any other part of urban Strood. To have been walking for three hours solid and unexpectedly coming back to the exact same spot has to be the ultimate irony.

It reminded me of Michael Caine in The Ipcress File, when he escaped from what he thought was an overseas concentration camp or similar, clambered over the perimeter fence and was suddenly on a road with ordinary traffic including a London 'bus.

I chuckled all the way home, despite my aching feet, on the top deck of the Number 141...

Grange Walkabout 2012

Reckoning that yesterday's problems couldn't really recur so soon as the day after, I decided to revisit Grange in Gillingham – this time with a camera, as I had promised myself. Thus, as with Hillyfields yesterday, this is primarily a photo-essay with a little explanation here and there.

I decided to model the walkabout on last year's first visit, but not copy the route. Indeed, although I went over much of the same ground, I made a point of taking alternative paths and exploring places I had spotted last time. There was also a place outside of Grange, across the main road, which I shall cover separately.

Here's my start point, just around the corner from the route 176 'bus stop where I arrived...

Not just the church, but the extensive grounds as well, comprising a park-like greenspace  with a children's play area, and some of the monuments are spaced around this area...

In one corner to the north is an exit to Layfield Road...

This leads to The Barge public house, which is looking much better these days than when the Google camera car went down there, as these 'then and now' images (the former from Google Street View) show...

Just around the corner in Court Lodge Road, partly sunken into the ground and overlooking the main road from its elevated location is The Ship Inn...

 It is so much more peaceful up there than down on the often (but not always!) busy main road...

Heading back into Grange itself, Court Lodge Road takes one along the eastern side of the churchyard-cum-park,  arriving at this corner shop at the junction with Grange Road. It's one of those shops of this kind that just seem to be appropriate in their location, somehow...

Turning left past the shop entrance and continuing on a short way, one comes across this unusual scene of the road passing above a cul-de-sac below, which can be accessed by one of two ramps. This is Dial Road...

Note that the solar panels in the roof of that house (and there are more in the roof's front) weren't there when the Google car snapped the scene, so they are a fairly recent addition.

One of my favourite features of Grange is the 'village stores' shop a little further along the top road. Again, it just works there and that place would definitely be missing something without it...

At this point I decided that I had done enough for today and headed back on the next (frequent!) 176 'bus from a stop back toward the Premier corner shop pictured above. I had gone down a number of other roads and checked out a close or two, but there was nothing really photo-worthy from any of that.

I still very much like this whole area, and was so pleased to be back there, especially on a brilliantly sunny day. I was beaming almost non-stop!

Hillyfields Walkabout

I was determined to go for a walkabout to and around Hillyfields Country Park in Gillingham today – and despite a series of obstacles, I actually managed to achieve this.

First, I was held up by a series of tweet to-ing and fro-ing with Medway Labour's Tristan Osborne regarding my previous-but-one post here.

Then, the 'bus I was on made a poor turn at the hospital turn-off from Rock Avenue and scuppered its suspension. After limping along (and juddering over rough bits) as far as St Mark's Church, the driver realised he had a real problem and that was the end of that. The vehicle was left there for at least two hours.

As I looked up when exiting the 'bus, I saw that the sky was much more 'dodgy' weather-wise than even the most recent forecast for the area had indicated, just a few hours earlier.

It was beginning to look as though my planned trip out was jinxed...

Yes, it is what I call a "Puff-Pack" after its licence number – in this case, it was Puff-Pack 272. Poor old thing! It's a hard worker too: I have frequently seen this particular vehicle in operation...

UPDATE 15 September: it is now back in operation, as I witnessed on Chatham Hill this afternoon.

Anyway, instead of my original plan to approach Hillyfields Country Park from the stop at the northern end of Richmond Road and walking around the corner to (and up) Rosebery Road, a hastily-devised Plan B took me along Gillingham High Street to a series of back streets (James Street, Jeffery St, Gardiner St, Saunders St and Victoria St) to Burnt Oak Terrace and along to Parr Avenue where the entrance I sought to the park was situated...

I found the park interesting: not so much its ground-level playing field...

...but certainly the elevated orchard, up these 42 steps (these are just the top few, and a view looking back down from the top)...

There's a good panoramic river view from up there, as this guide shows...

Now, what's in those woodlands back there...

Well, there was quite a lot, actually, including a fair amount of litter, I noticed. At least I was able to avoid most of it in the photograph above.

After exhausting all the little ways that were passable 'up top', I came back down the steps and headed south, toward the entrance at Greenfield Road. This is accessed via another set of steps, and has a poetical inscription set into the paving at their summit...

After exiting the park and wandering more back streets (Railway Street, crossing the road at Gillingham Station and taking the footpath to the south of the railway line) I ended up at Balmoral Gardens Community Healthy Living Centre, tucked away from general public/street view yet spectacularly visible once one came upon it...

That was quite a serendipitous find for me, so with yet another back street trek (Randolph Road, Gorst Street and Trafalgar Street) I found myself in Canterbury Street so decided to catch the 'bus back home. It had been an interesting enough trip out – and I was intrigued to find my 'incoming' 'bus still there where I had disembarked a couple of hours earlier – so I took that photo of it as shown at the top of this post!