Meridian Canoe Club

I am planning a trip from The Strand, Gillingham to Upnor Village on the Medway opposite Chatham Dockyard.
We meet at the boathouse at 9:00
Load boats and leave by 9:30.
Arrive at The Strand Car Park, Gillingham, ME 7 1RJ (free parking with toilets and café) at 10.15.
Launch at 10.45.
Cross shipping lane and paddle into the tide to Hoo Fort.
Inspect the wrecks on the east side then go into Hoo island to explore the various streams, etc.
From now on the tide will be with us and we head to the north shore of the Medway and past Port Werburgh, Cookham Wood, the various yacht clubs and Upnor Castle to Upnor where we can land and have lunch.
If we have time, the village looks worthy of a short walk (the narrow cobbled High Street has two pubs…).

HW Chatham approx 14:26 and we we leave soon after.
Cross the river to Chatham Dockyard and follow the southern shore back to The Strand.
Return to The Strand by 16:00
Leave by 16:30 and return to the boathouse by 17:00.
The distance from The Strand to Upnor is 4.5 miles and the return 2.5 making a 7 mile trip.

Paddlers should be of a 2* standard.
If you are using club equipment, please book it out at:-
viewtopic.php?f=39&p=6025#p6025

This will be an inter-club trip with our friends from Bewl and Maidstone Canoe Clubs.
If you would like any more information please contact me via the forum or at the lake on Saturday.

When planning touring trips everything is based around the tide times.
The weather, although forecast, is not as predictable.
The light showers didn't happen but neither did the fall in wind speed although the direction was correct, so we had to adapt to conditions.

Met with Steve and Alan from Bewl Water CC and with 8 from Meridian (must be some kind of record...) set off across the wind, tide and shipping lane to Hoo Island then into the tide to Hoo Fort.
Once we turned north we were in the wind shadow of the island a had a good opportunity to view the wrecks with Sharon and Louie seeing them for the first time.


After viewing the wrecks we then paddled into the island with an incoming tide the rivulets soon filled up.


Quite a contrast to the wind and tide outside the island


Unfortunately there wasn't enough water for us to continue to exit on the north shore so a lot of reverse paddling and 3+ point turns found us retracing our route to where we entered and then continued along the north shore using the island to protect us from the continuing strong westerly wind.


Continued on to the north shore of the Medway into the wind past the many yacht clubs...



..past Upnor Castle and landed at Upper Upnor for lunch.


The temporary fencing was erected for last week's firework display and provided us with a useful way of keep our boats under control!
However being a Spring tide the water flooded into the street which told us the tide had turned and it was time to leave.
We did try to paddle up river to have a closer look at Chatham Dockyard but the wind won that battle so we decided to start the return back to The Strand with both the tide and wind behind us but the strong wind made paddling in a straight line difficult.

As we approached the eastern gates to Chatham Dockyard our path was blocked by a cargo carrier.


So we stopped, grouped up and watched the ship slowly edge it's way between the lock gates.

Final stop on the trip was Corporation Wharf.
The lightship has gone, The Medway Queen remains and appears to be neglected,


but has been joined by a preserved sailing barge.


As I said at the beginning, the weather forecast was not accurate but a mixture of various winds and tides made this another good trip for all.

Eight Meridian adventurers and 2 from Bewl Water loved this trip.Conditions were changeable as we crossed the channel and followed the course of the Medway towards Upnor. Passing the island and heading upriver with an incoming tide presented us with a head on wind and ocean like waters, which were actually quite manageable. Near Hoo Marina the wind dropped as we turned alongside the beach at Lower Upnor. Passing the yatch club we chose a route through the numerous yatcht moorings, avoiding the busy main channel. Upnor Castle was in site, but still some way off around the wide bend of the river. We reached the small slipway at Lower Upnor and got off the water for lunch. The rising tide gradually engulfed the remaining shore where we sat, and even splashed up onto the riverside car park to a metre or more lapping the wheels of the parked cars. (Locals obviously park at the rear of the park on the slightly higher ground!) The homeward trip found us enjoying wind and tide from behind, and as we passed by hundreds of new riverside dwellings we felt waves surging us along with the help of quite a powerful backwind. There's much more to tell about this trip, but sufficient to say that this was another memorable day. I loved the variety of waters and paddling conditions we encountered. The experience of being up close and personal with Hoo Island and its meandering rivulets was a priveledge: Navigable by few, ruled by tide and time.

Oops, I meant Upper Upnor was the place we got out for lunch, not Lower UPnor as I said in the above text! Tim will be upset if I don't get it right!