I was delighted, a few months ago, to be contacted by a very nice person called Amena Ahmed from a company called Pixelwork.  She was helping design a mobile App about the Thames Estuary Path, in conjunction with Essex Council.  The Path runs for 29 miles from Tilbury to Leigh-on-Sea.  We had walked a lot of this three years ago and posted photos on the blog.  Pixelwork were interested in using some of these photos for their App, such as this one, of St Margaret’s Church in Bowers Gifford:

And this one, of Tilbury Fort (slanted horizon and all – if walking the coast of Britain teaches you anything at all, it is how to correct horizons in your photos):

For some reason Amena decided not to use this one of Tilbury Fort (which must surely be the better photo because the horizon isn’t quite as tilted and also because the artistic imagery speaks volumes):

The idea for this App is fantastic.  You download a walk to your phone, then head off and get walking.  The App gives you a map to follow and waypoints on the way.  As you reach each waypoint you can tap a marker and a brief history pops up with photos and an audio commentary.  You can listen to the history of the area as you walk it.

The App can be found under “Thames EP” in the Apple iTunes store and is free to download.  In addition there is an associated website.

I have listened to several sections of the walk.  I wish it had been available when we were walking that stretch of coast because it is a truly wonderful idea.  Amena now needs to start rolling out an App for the entire UK coastline in my view – how good would that be?!?

Thames Estuary Path (copy and paste the co-ordinates into Google Earth):

• Tilbury Town and approximate start:  N 51° 27.700 E 000° 21.700
• Leigh-on-Sea and approximate end:  N 51° 32.550 E 000° 39.200