Cliffe Fort

Not the best of today's efforts but the hardest to get!

Our last full day of this trip hunting down a few places from my 'Wild Ruins' book, which has taken me into places I would not otherwise have seen orknown  about,  We started with a visit to Oare Gunpowder Works - not actually closed down until the 1920s and involved in the manufacture of materials for the notorious Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  It was quite a place - now a country park with a few bits of brick wall here and there, but the manufacturing process of gunpowder and what happened there was very clearly explained.  The visitor centre is excellent and, I think, run by volunteers as a cup of tea and a Kit Kat was only 80p. I mentioned how I had come upon the place and showed them the book which interested said volunteers - they like to know how new people find the place.

Onward then to a Chapel in the middle of a field. This particular one was originally a rare Roman mausoleum and significant that it was on the route to London. It dates from the 4th century AD. There is not much of it left, but evidence of the distinctive Roman bricks in its construction; it has a fascinating history. Extra with Pepper on the ruined wall.

Last stop of the day was at Cliffe Fort - or as near as we could get to it.  It is in an area currently being mined for its sand and gravel out on the marshes and not able to be accessed by the public or photographers.  The author of 'Wild Ruins' has clearly not been there recently as he says its an easy  two mile walk.  I suppose it was in the sense that it was level ground BUT fighting through the brambles and hawthorn I didn't count as 'easy'!  When we were as close as we thought we could reasonably get, I stopped to see what I could manage with the camera.  Looking through the viewfinder I was a bit surprised to see what appeared to be a ship moving along in the background,  It was a ship - we were right alongside a part of the Thames estuary.  So, as I say, not the best I have taken today but the most difficult to achieve.

We are now at a campsite where I actually have a good phone signal so can tether the connection to laptop.  It will be strange to have a routine wifi connection tomorrow when we are home!