Going ashore at Lower Halstow? Medway dog walking?!

[MagicalArmchair]

I have a fin keeled Albin Ballad and a new addition to our family, a daft hound that needs to get ashore for a walk. We used to anchor in Sharfleet Creek, and there are few places to get ashore there (two that I know of, one only accessible at the very top of the tide, the other a rocky climb up) and Patch (said hound) would chase the birds anyway, so not ideal.

I considered anchoring at the end of Stangate and then chugging in our dinghy that has a very good outboard to Lower Halstow at anything above half tide - its a shade under 2 miles. Does anyone else do this? Is it recommended? Seems an awfully long way in a dinghy.... Triola draws about 1.55M so any further up Stangate, unless they were neaps, we stand a good chance of being over on our side at LW.

45 minute dinghy ride?... Any other dog walking anchorages??

edit - d'oh, just noticed, its prohibited anchoring there, you get the idea though. Around that area.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Or alternatively, anchor here, and go ashore on this little island connected to the mainland at high tide?:

Or is this private land...?

 

[Gargleblaster]

We no longer have a dog but when we did our little Westie was quite entertained and relieved by going ashore on the little island just to the north of your indicated anchorage. The bank there is quite steep so you can get ashore at most states of the tide without having to traipse through acres of mud. Acres of mud always seems to be the biggest problem on the East Coast when wanting to walk a dog at low tide.
Generally our Westie had a fairly good bladder and could easily go for 12 hours between high tides.
I know of a few people who have taught their dog to both urinate and defecate on a piece of artificial grass or outdoor carpet on the foredeck.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

We no longer have a dog but when we did our little Westie was quite entertained and relieved by going ashore on the little island just to the north of your indicated anchorage. The bank there is quite steep so you can get ashore at most states of the tide without having to traipse through acres of mud. Acres of mud always seems to be the biggest problem on the East Coast when wanting to walk a dog at low tide.
Generally our Westie had a fairly good bladder and could easily go for 12 hours between high tides.
I know of a few people who have taught their dog to both urinate and defecate on a piece of artificial grass or outdoor carpet on the foredeck.

Thanks for the response, do you mean this island here?

 

[bluerm166]

Your first indicated anchorage was historically indicated for explosives but thats a long long time ago and its not prohibited now.
The little island referred to is Chetney Island which is part of the wider nature reserve.The large sign saying no landing fell over years ago but is still there.Any more than a brief landing keeping on the lowest exposed foreshore at low tide with dog on lead will encroach on the nesting site,and unfortunately may not encourage the required performance.It is a splendidly isolated spot and all the more valuable for nature because of it so I'm afraid its better to appreciate it from a distance.You could actually anchor just off the island in the Shades/Funton at mid tide though and it's well worth a lunchtime visit,if not for the dog.
Why not go right in to Lower Halstow and anchor at 3/4 tide ,just sufficient time to tender in and have a walk and then retreat.

 

[FulmarJeddo]

I wouldn't trust that chart. It shows far more non drying areas in Halstow Creek than there actually are and some of the drying areas shown at the bottom of Stangate don't dry. As already said there is no problem anchoring in the explosives area. There are two options for getting ashore at Lower Halstow. First is come in to the yacht club slip. The water reaches the bottom of the slip at approx 4.2m over CD, so there is water for a minimum of a couple of hours on the smallest of tides. Your dinghy will be safe there while you go for your walk along the sea wall back towards the dock. Only snag, it will involve a climb over a locked gate, unless one of our members are about to unlock it for you. There are gaps big enough for most dogs to make their own way through. The other option is head straight for the dock where you may get ashore a few minutes earlier on the beach just outside the dock. Your dinghy and outboard should be safe, but it is a public space. There is a good path along the sea wall that is well used by dog walkers.

Don't be tempted to walk ashore through the mud if you get there before the tide, you will probably get stuck.

My boat draws 1.2m and is moored towards the outer moorings and floats when the tide reaches 4.2m, so anchoring just outside the mooring area near the barge mooring should give you enough water to get ashore in the dinghy.

 

[Gargleblaster]

Thanks for the response, do you mean this island here?

http://i.imgur.com/TACvjrD.png (I can't work out how to do these pictures).
I think your original image/chart shows the area more accurately than the later one. If you go ashore immediately north of the anchorage you show in the original chart while it is long grass crisscrossed by numerous small watercourses the ground is quite firm and as the banks at the southern end of that island are steep to and accessed relatively easy at most states of tide. The banks on the eastern side of Stangate Creek seem to be very muddy at low tide but should be fine a high tide.
If your dog can wait 12 hours for a high tide just about anywhere on the East Coast is accessible for dog walking.

 

[Keith 66]

Landing at Chetney hill usually attracts a visit from the miserable farmer shouting "Get Orf Moi Land!".
Sharfleets creek is actually quite good if you go round the corner as you can land near the beacon at HW and at LW you can land on the banks that dry on the north side, these are quite hard & interesting to visit with lots of old pottery & detritus of many ages.
When our lad was small many trips ashore produced many treasures, one time he got out of the dinghy & imediately found the bronze nosecone of a WW1 antiaircraft shell, the other side of the dinghy i picked up a bronze age pottery shard complete with makers fingermarks. Clay pipes & oysters!

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Thank you all! Okay, so Chetney Hill is out - I have much love for all the birds down there so don't want to disturb them with the hound. The dog is some mad loon, so needs a decent run, leaving Sharfleet out of the running too (I spent many years as a boy myself picking through all the exciting stuff there on that beach!).

So that leaves Lower Halstow, and that's great news they have a slip, and, looking at the yacht club website, a pontoon also. I'm not sure if I am quite brave enough to anchor on a 3/4 tide and then retreat on a falling tide She dries out okay, but I don't think the crew will thank me being over at 45 degrees until the tide decides to come back in. I have a good outboard and a dinghy, I could always anchor out and chug in by dinghy. So, about a mile and a half in the dinghy, with the tide as it comes in, so praps four knots chugging with the tide, so 25 minutes each way? With a muddy slipway at the other end, I fear the 1st mate will rebel (not to mention the two children and the dog)! Access to the slip is at 4.2M over CD (thanks FulmarJeddo!), soo, today for instance (as we are all a bit neapy today) I could get on the slip at about 19:30, and I'd need to be off the slip by 22:00. Plenty of time to walk to pooch... just got to sell it to Liz...

Is this the slip here:

Looks like Queensborough may be my only option till the kiddiwinks are a bit older, short of going up the Swale...

 

[FulmarJeddo]

The jetty and slip you have ringed is privately owned by about 5 or 6 locals. They would probably be ok with you landing there but the club slip and jetty are to the right of that on the picture. The slip extends, on the southern side to just beyond the end of the jetty. There's a row of telephone poles marking the side of the slip.

With advanced warning and if not booked by a club member you could come alongside the jetty and stay over a tide if you wished (there's a good pub in the village). I think you said you draw 5ft, so it would need to be a fairly big tide though.
The slip is all concrete and gets a bit muddy at the bottom when we haven't scraped it for a while, but nothing that wellies can't cope with. If you come in when there's a bit of water there are landing stages on the slip side of the jetty, so crew could get ashore without getting their feet wet. Be careful if coming in to the landing stage when the water is shallow though with an outboard as there are wooden sleepers set in the concrete ready to smash your prop or shear pin. They were put there when we dry launched long keel boats against removable drying posts. We have upgraded our launching cradle so they never get used now.

If you want to use the jetty, use the email link on the website or PM me. There's two of us that look at the emails, and bookings for the jetty are done by the mooring master, so we have to contact him. Hence a couple of days notice is really required.