Travel Blog 1 – Chatham

This is the first of a series of travel blogs written by some of our visually impaired service users.  They include travel tips and also suggested places to eat and drink.  This first blog is written by Stefan Crocker and is about travelling to Chatham in Kent.

Connections wise this is a simple journey. You get to ride upon the much-vaunted high speed 1 (HS1) from London St Pancras International.

If you are travelling from Bedford you have two options to arrive at London St Pancras International. Firstly you can take one of faster trains run by LNER.  These only have limited stops before they reach London and usually take about 40 minutes. Secondly you can catch the Thameslink stopping service which takes about an hour to arrive in London. Although slightly longer in duration this way could be easier for those with more limited sight as once you step off the train you can find the first escalator and then just walk straight ahead to the second escalator to arrive at the Thameslink ticket barrier. All you need to do is turn left and carry on straight towards the back exit of St Pancras, there is a lift to your left you can take or turn left here to walk down and find the escalator up to the South Eastern platforms. A quick side note when you exit the Thameslink ticket barrier you will find the mobility centre immediately to your left.

When you go up the escalator to the South Eastern platforms you need to turn left and then a sharp left and walk straight ahead to find the staffed desk. I found the staff very helpful, I requested assistance to board the train to Chatham and someone came quite quickly. The HS1 line is great, it is very comfortable, and you can travel all the way down to places such as Whitstable, Canterbury, Dover and Margate. The train is only high speed as far as Ebbsfleet International. The journey to Chatham takes about 40 minutes.

Chatham railway station is not very accessible to the visually impaired. I did have assistance at the other end but not sure if there is a taxi rank as I was collected by a friend at the ticket barrier. On the return journey I was dropped at Rochester station, this is a much more accessible station. It has only two platforms and both have lifts to them. There did not appear to be staff at the station so probably best to pre-book assistance. Although I did not use them Knights Travel Medway, a local taxi firm, are highly rated and appear to cover Rochester, Strood and Chatham.

If you wish to grab some food and a beer in Rochester (Chatham is pretty small) then I hear the Flippin Frog is well rated and for those who are ale fans it offers 5 changing ales. Another option is to catch the train to the seaside town of Whitstable. In the high street you will find a delightful coffee shop called the Whitstable Coffee Company, it does breakfasts and lunch bites. For the ale and gin lovers I highly recommend Twelve Taps although they do not serve food but you can pop across the road to the Ship Centurion for some good pub grub.