The long distance path known as The Saxon Shore Way stretches from Gravesend to Hastings, some 160 miles from start to finish. Originally opened in 1980, it has since been re-routed and extended in parts. Where possible, it uses existing public rights of way and allows the walker to follow the coastline roughly as it was around 1,500 years ago.

The path takes its name from the line of fortifications built along the southern and eastern coasts by the Romans in the third century AD. Originally believed to have been built to protect Britain from marauding tribes, such as the Saxons, new research has concluded that they were more than likely fortified ports, as south-east Britain has traded with Europe since at least the late Bronze Age and this, no doubt, continued throughout the Roman Period.

Walking the Saxon Shore Way

This booklet about the Medway section of the Way is available from:

• Civic Centre,
• Compass Centre,
• Riverside Country Park,
• Medway Visitor Information Centre.

The 26 miles of the route passing through Medway have been divided into seven sections. Six of the sections are five miles or less in length. Each section can provide an enjoyable day out and offers the walker something different, from the desolate marshland between Cliffe and High Halstow, through the busy streets of Rochester and Chatham to the peaceful riverside of lower Gillingham and Rainham.