Adventures in Kent: The Isle of Grain

So the bf took me to The Isle of Grain (the old English word for gravel) where he used to mess about when he was a young teenager.  He was worried that I'd be disappointed because there really is nothing there.  Growing up in a very large city, I didn't really know what to expect but being a on massive exploration mission at the moment, it seemed like a cool idea.

The drive up wasn't particularly impressive.  A few better looking houses than the squished up Maidstone terrace houses, and lots of greenery to be seen.  There were a few bunnies here and there and lots of wetland birds which Grain is apparently a haven for. Mostly though, the power station dominates the horizon.

My first impression on arrival was a bit like a ghost town tucked away in the middle of no where - a place that the world has forgotten.  The Google machine tells me the population is less than 1700 people which explains the absent feel.   

Other than the massive power station, a pub, a primary school and a coffee shop, it was completely empty and I found myself wondering where on earth those people shop for groceries.

Parking was easy as it was right next to the beach.   I didn't see parking anywhere else but then went early so there wasn't another soul about other than a few dog walkers.

The first thing that struck me was the huge hilly greenery.  It pretty much surrounds the coast and we went climbing over big hills and banks to get a good view of the water.  Of course we could have just used the path near the parking but what fun would that be?

Standing on top of the hills provided some awesome views.

Beach view with the Isle of Sheppey in the distance.

A very gray day but it was at least warm and not too windy.

The tide was way out in the sea!

All along the beach front are these pill boxes from past wars.  They been trashed by folk over time and add to the whole creepiness of the place.

This is the best thing about Grain.  It's called the Grain Tower and was built in 1855.  It is an old military fort in the middle of the sea.  There is a stone pathway from the shoreline all the way to the tower which you can walk when the tide is out.

We began walking towards it but the tide had already come in considerably which meant that the pathway was slightly submerged.  I wasn't about to let that stop me and continued to walk in the mud - until it swallowed my favourite trainers and I had to wrestle the mud like mad to get my shoe back! The sand is so soft it is almost like sinking sand and after almost losing my shoe I decided we'd have to purchase welly boots and go back again fully armed and ready!

Apparently it was sold to a private company so if you are planning to make a trip out to see it, you'd better not wait too long!

Before deciding to walk to the tower, we consulted the internet to find out what time the tide would come back in as we did not want to get stranded.  It was around midday and the website said the tide was expected to be back in close to 2pm.  Full of confidence and wonder, I was sure we'd make it back on time.  After the shoe incident forcing us to turn back, we realised with horror that had we not gone back when we did, we would have been stuck because the time on the website was when the whole tide was back to the shoreline and not to the tower - duh!  Below is a photo of how far out to sea the tower is and how much the tide had come in within the hour! That was close.

The power station cooling pipes. 

 

 When walking around the wetlands you have to be very careful because you don't see the random patches of lake and river in between the long grass. 

 
 The main battery tower in among the wetlands.

Views from the main battery tower.

A very steep staircase leading from the main battery tower to the grass below.  I'd hate to fall down those guys!

The battery tower is very secluded and scary and I fully expected to get attacked by some throwback super mutant from the power station.

Inside the biggest of the broken buildings, there is a burnt out carcass of which I'm told was once a caravan.  I have no idea how it ever got in there.

 We climbed over some barbed wire and went into the battery tower. It was on top of a hill and offered some cool views.  Check out those thorns though - ouch!  

A super spiky weed.  He looked quite angry, I thought.

 Broken power lines and other beach junk adds to the creepy feel of the place.

You can see here how much the tide was out.  This boat was on dry land when we walked past it but on our return it was floating upside down in the water.

This power station is massive.  We walked over 3 miles and didn't get to the end of it. This was our route  http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/1084041556

How can they honestly put signs up like this with absolutely no fence or any other physical barrier to keep people out and then expect us not to go any further? It's like a BIG RED BUTTON!  Nevertheless, we behaved and stopped at this point - mainly because I didn't want to get some gross form of radiation poisoning or something from the power station and end up with a melted face!

 There's a fair bit of junk lying around the beach.