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Circular walk · Easy
A 6.4 mile circular walk from Rainham High Street to the Medway estuary, along the Saxon Shore Way into Riverside Country Park and back through Lower Rainham.
Swap the High Street for big skies in under half an hour. This loop heads north from Rainham to Otterham Creek, then follows the Saxon Shore Way west along the sea wall, with saltmarsh, mudflats and boats on one side and orchards on the other. After a break at Riverside Country Park you head back south through Lower Rainham to finish where you started, at Medway Munch, an ME Card partner.
Medway Munch on Rainham High Street serves freshly made breakfast rolls, sandwiches and treats, so it’s ideal for fuelling up before you set off or refuelling when you’re back. ME Card members save there: show your card when you pay and check the current offer with the stop below.
Rainham station, on the line between Chatham and Sittingbourne, is a few minutes’ walk from the High Street. There are car parks in the town centre, and Riverside Country Park has its own car park if you’d rather start on the coast.
The estuary is at its best for birds in autumn and winter, when waders and wildfowl feed on the mud at low tide. The sea wall is exposed, so bring a windproof layer, and keep dogs under control near nesting and feeding birds.
Start
Start and finish at Medway Munch on Rainham High Street, an ME Card partner serving breakfast rolls, freshly filled sandwiches, sweet treats and milkshakes. Grab something for the walk or save it for the end, then head east and north towards Otterham Quay.
ME Card members get 15% OFF at Medway Munch.
1.7 mi · 33 min walk to the next stop
The lane runs down to Otterham Creek, a quiet tidal inlet off the Medway with moored boats, old wharves and wide views over the marsh. Here you join the Saxon Shore Way, the long-distance path that follows the old Kent coastline, and turn west along the sea wall.
Photo: Stephen McKay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (geograph.org.uk).
1.2 mi · 23 min walk to the next stop
The path follows the grassy sea wall past Motney Hill and the bays of the Medway estuary, with saltmarsh, mudflats and little islands to the north. At low tide look for curlews, redshanks and egrets feeding on the mud.
Photo: Marathon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (geograph.org.uk).
0.9 mi · 17 min walk to the next stop
Riverside Country Park stretches along the estuary shore between Gillingham and Rainham, with grassland, ponds and the long spit of Horrid Hill reaching out into the river. It’s a good place for a break before you turn inland and walk back through Lower Rainham to the High Street.
Photo: Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
2.7 mi · 54 min walk to the finish
Back at the start
