My walking plan for the day was to complete the fourteen or fifteen miles to Grays in West Thurrock where I would be well placed to cross over the Thames on the Queen Elizabeth II bridge. However, while down at the washroom I was advised that there were no pedestrian crossings on the bridge. I checked it out on my mobile phone and was informed that while the main bridge crossing is for vehicles only, there was a service to take cyclists over but they would not extend this to pedestrians.
That meant if I was to walk over or under the Thames I would need to go all the way up the river to the pedestrian tunnel at Woolwich or one of the other bridges further up the river, a walk of a couple of days. With my walks tightly timetabled and camping sites and accommodation booked in advance, I could not take three or four days to walk up and down the river. After consulting the map, I decided to make it easier for myself and shorten the walking day by going only as far as Tilbury, stopping the walking clock there, take public transport to my hotel for the night at West Thurrock and return to Tilbury the next day to take the ferry from Tilbury to Gravesend. I would take the ferry on the understanding that I will come back and complete the walk from Tilbury up to Woolwich and then back down the other side to Gravesend at a later date.
After my impromptu lunch and conversation I rejoined the seawall, using one of the linkpaths that run out from the fort to the banks of the river. In the distance I could see the buildings of the mothballed power station at Tilbury. Walking now on a tarmac path tand I was kept entertained by the river traffic and the numerous birds grazing on the seashore. The sun was out, albeit there were clouds about, but there was a little breeze so it was good walking weather. As I neared Tilbury, pedestrian and cycle traffic on the path increased and I lost the solitude of the early part of the day.
Passing the Tilbury Cruise Centre I was reminded that it is the ocation of one of the largest cruise ship terminals in the UK. Tilbury deep water docks first opened for business on 17 April 1886, specialising in trade goods such as maderia wine, jute and sausage skins. In the 1960's with the opening of the grain terminal, it could store up to 100,000 tons of grain at a time. Over the years, private flour mills developed in the local area, including companies like Rank Hovis, Spillers Milling and Allied Mills providing employment opportunities for thousands of people. As a deep water dock, Tilbury was able to take very large vessells with some grain ships carrying 50,000 ton cargoes. Further development of the docks led increased capacity to enable services to be provided for large cargo container vessels and huge luxury cruise ships, with both services continuing to be provided today.