Dartford Slipway
Dartford Slipway launches onto Dartford Creek, the tidal lower reach of the River Darent near Temple Hill, Dartford, which runs on for about two miles as a tidal estuary before joining the Thames east of Crayford Ness. Some sources call it Nelson's Row slipway, after the footpath and river crossing it sits beside.
Dartford Creek is tidal throughout and deep enough to float a boat only from around mid to high tide; at low water it drains to steep mud banks left by decades of silting since commercial traffic on the creek ended in 1986. The River Cray joins from the west about a mile below the slipway, and the whole reach sits within the Port of London Authority's harbour limits.
At the slipway you're at the head of navigation: the disused Dartford lock, with a low sill that only clears at medium to high water, sits alongside the fixed pedestrian lift bridge that now caps passage upstream. The steel Thames sailing barge Decima, built in 1899, has been resident on this stretch of the river since passing above the lock in 2018.
Downstream, the channel narrows between the reedbeds and saltmarsh of Dartford and Crayford Marshes, part of the last extensive stretch of open marsh between London and Gravesend and recorded as a Local Wildlife Site for its water beetle populations. Herons and great crested grebe have been recorded on the creek, and there's a public right of navigation on the Cray arm into Vitbe Basin, though not a right to land there.
Nearby
On Hythe Street, on the route to the slipway, across the river via the adjacent footbridge.
Conditions to check
The creek is tidal throughout and has enough depth for navigation only from around mid to high tide.
SourceThe creek silted heavily after commercial traffic ended in 1986, leaving steep mud banks exposed at low water.
SourceThe Dartford Creek Tidal Flood Barrier, two vertical drop-leaf gates near the creek mouth in service since 1982, is manned and can close ahead of high tides, sealing the creek off from the Thames while shut.
SourceA disused lock sits at the launch with a low sill on its Dartford side; the sill only clears around medium to high water.
SourceLow fixed bridges upstream of the launch, including University Way Bridge and the Bob Dunn Way/North Kent Railway bridge on the Cray arm, cap headroom and passage beyond it.
SourceQuestions
No questions yet
Ask about parking, access or conditions. Anyone who knows this water can answer.
Comments
No comments yet.
Save your own spots
Keep the places you launch, check the wind and shelter before you go, and log every paddle. Add a spot to the directory too, and other paddlers will find it. Free to start.