THE DIARY OF SAM J - SATURDAY 3 MARCH 2001

We started walking at 9.20 am from Upnor, wrapped up well against the cold – we’d seen lots of snow on the ground on the way here.  We knew that a lot of paths would be closed because of the foot and mouth outbreak and that we wouldn’t be able to go further than Gillingham this weekend.

We had to go onto the beach to get a view of Upnor Castle, but we should get a better view from the other bank.  We walked from Upnor to Frindsbury along the road past an oast house and a picturesque graveyard in the snow.  Frindsbury was where we had our first view of Rochester – the cathedral and castle stood out from the industrial and residential areas.

It was downhill all the way into Strood and then we crossed the river.  After a photo call to take pictures of the decorations on the bridge and of each other, we reached the town.  It was only eleven o’clock!

We had a look in a second hand bookshop and came out with a bag full of books each.  We decided that, as we only had a few more miles to go, we would sightsee for the rest of the day as everything would be open and we would continue with our walking tomorrow.  So, at 11.30 am, we were sitting in the cathedral tea rooms with cake and hot chocolate, planning the rest of our day.

There are lots of book shops in Rochester and we went in all of them.  We bought so much that we wouldn’t have been able to walk any further anyway. We had a look around the cathedral – very pretty apart from the four very scary Green Men on the ceiling.

We got a cab back to Upnor and the car before returning to Rochester for a pizza.  Afterwards we bought provisions (chocolate!) and headed for Medway Youth Hostel.  After dumping all our bags in our room, we headed for the TV lounge – no fighting over what to watch as there was only one other person staying!  We played scrabble, watched telly and went to bed.

SUNDAY 4 MARCH 2001

We were up at 8.00 am for breakfast this morning, which was when we met the other guest and it turned out that Susan knew of her son!

We left the hostel just as it was starting to rain to drive to Rochester and we were walking again at 9.20 am.  It’s been mostly road walking today apart from a bit of the path that ran along the river bank at Chatham.  It was very peaceful and we must have been nearer the sea, because we saw two oyster catchers!

We arrived at Chatham dockyard, but there wasn’t much to see because all the interesting bits were in the museum.

We were trying to get to the river bank again so that we could get a view of Upnor Castle. We could see it from afar and we saw people walking along the path, but we could only see a building site and new housing development.  Eventually, we found an information board that showed the path around.

It had been raining on and off all morning and, when we got to the bank opposite Upnor Castle, we even had a few flakes of snow!  We took a few photos and then set off to Gillingham.  Very grim walking – heavy rain, roads and the fact that this was going to be the last bit of walking that Susan could do for a while.

We arrived at Gillingham station at 12.30 pm to get the train back to Rochester.  The plan was to drive back to Upnor for lunch, but, by the time we got there, the pub was full, so we drove back to Epsom to meet Paul and had lunch at Bella Pasta.

It’s sad to think that, because of the foot and mouth, Susan won’t be doing any walking for a while.  But let’s hope that it will all be over soon.