Luxury in Greenwich

The first night of the trip was spent in luxury, thanks to the thoughtfulness of my friends Mike & Yona Heyward, and the generosity of Guillaume Rapin and his staff at the Greenwich Novotel. I must admit it was quite fun checking into a (4-star?) hotel, wearing a drysuit, and with the boat on its trolley. Having wined and dined in style, and rested by a full night's sleep, I trollied the boat down to the river and put in with the help of some boatyard workers just down from the maritime museum. Amongst the many sidelong glances from amused pedestrians, there was a priceless moment of mutual appreciation as I passed a bearded tramp who was also pulling his world on wheels behind him.
I stemmed the last of the flood stream through the barrier, and took the ebb through the drear, grey, flat industrial landscape of east London, and under the QE2 bridge.
As night fell, the lights of Shell Haven blazed on the north bank, and waterfowl rioted on the mudflats to starboard. Navigating by the channel marker buoys, I startled a flock of birds from their roost within the steel latticework of one.
There is no easy get-out for an unsupported paddler between Greenwich and the Isle of Sheppey, so it was a long slog into the darkness before I reached landfall at Sheerness, coming ashore at 2300. A day's run of about 40 miles, but with considerable tidal assistance.
My thanks are also due to TonyR of Tower Hamlets Canoe Club for his excellent pilotage notes of this section of the river.
Some youngsters on the beach lent a hand to get the boat up and over the sea wall, and another insisted on buying my fish and chips!
There would have been some great photos, but for what happened next...