Monday 14th September 2020

The September heatwave was really kicking in with the possibility of temperatures hitting 30 degrees in the southeast. Furthermore we had walked for eleven days with not a drop of rain and today was not going to change that record. It was comfortably warm even at 7:45 when we wandered from the hotel to the station to get the train to Rye to continue our walk.

At Rye we exited the train along with loads of school kids whose concept of social distancing was limited.

In Rye we found a baker’s and bought some pastries for elevenses and lunch and also got a copy of the Times (Jill still cuts out Emily’s articles for her). The first part of the walk was down a road through an industrial estate to Rye Harbour Village. There is a some original village there but it is mostly a static caravan park. Here we hoped to take the path along the sea wall down the side of the River Rother to where it meets the sea. Unfortunately that path is currently closed and completely fenced off and so we had no choice but to follow a diversion along with all the people from the caravan park.

It was already very hot and lots of people were heading for the beach. The path goes through an RSPB bird reserve and so was not without interest, though at this time of the year there were not huge numbers of interesting birds.

When we reached the sea we looked at the possibility of walking the shore but high tide had just passed and there was no sand just steeply shelved shingle. So we settled for walking along the tarmac road/path which runs immediately behind the shingle.

We stopped on a bench for our coffee and pastry but there was in fact a café a little further along which would have been a good option.

We visited Winchelsea many, many years ago and Jill used it as the subject of a painting and so it was interesting to see the long shingle beach and all the groynes once more.

At the end of the promenade, the cliff barred our way and so we turned slightly inland and climbed a path between the houses jigsawed together along the cliff. It was at least in the shade which made it a little more comfortable.

After a short walk along the cliff edge, the path turned inland through Fairlight where there is a network of private roads. We emerged from the little estate on to the cliff edge once more and came on to Fire Hills. It was extraordinarily hot. We found a bench for lunch but there was very little breeze and we were in full sun and so we moved on as soon as we had eaten. We came past a radar antenna and looking out to sea spotted a tiny boat approaching land at Covehurst Bay. We wondered what if anything we should do but then realised we could hear voices of coastguards on radios just above where we were standing and so we assumed the incoming migrants had been spotted.

A little while later we came into the Hastings Country Park where signs warned of a footpath diversion. We carried on regardless but eventually followed the diversion after the third sign warning that the path was closed due to a landslide.

As we neared Covehurst Bay we could see the little dinghy getting closer and closer and then heard some whoops of joy when they presumably had landed. Covehurst Bay has no vehicular access and the path is quite steep and narrow and so it was perhaps a good place for the migrants to land. The police helicopters we heard would have difficulty spotting them in the woods above the shoreline.

• 

• 

As we emerged from the Country Park on to the road there were several police vehicles and police officers, not very actively, looking for the immigrants.

The path crossed a stretch of grassland before descending into Hastings Old Town and on to the promenade. It had been an exhausting day in the strong sunshine and so it was time for ice creams and cold drinks before walking the last half mile back to our hotel.

• 

• 

Sunday 20th September 2020

Unbelievably we were in for yet another dry, sunny day with forecast temperatures in the mid 20s. We left Dover at about 8:00 and drove to the Pilot Inn at Lydd-on-Sea and left the car just off the road.

Our walk took us up what I thought would be just a track but is in fact a tarmac road towards Dungeness. This is a private road owned by the Dungeness Estate which was bought by EDF Energy in 2015. They also own the nuclear power station.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Along the side of the road is an interesting mix of shacks and chalets, some clearly almost derelict whilst some are simply run-down and others have been bought up up by the wealthy and transformed into to smart little holiday dwellings. I still find it difficult to see the attraction of living or holidaying at Dungeness.

Towards the tip, the road bends round and there is a pub called the Britannia Inn which looks unimpressive but is probably much valued by walkers and sea anglers of which there was an abundance. We also passed the old and new Dungeness lighthouses and a further eclectic mix of buildings all with the backdrop of the Dungeness power station.

The Dungeness Peninsula is England’s only desert.

I looked at the option of walking along the sand but there was none to be seen because tide was too far in and we were certainly not going to walk the shingle.

Our path took us down the side of the Dungeness Nuclear Power Station and then along the seaward side there was a narrow concrete walkway which allowed us to get along between the power station and the shingle heaped high on the shore.

• 

• 

• 

When the concrete road ran out we had to take to the top of the shingle bank and do our best to walk the final half mile until we would turn inland. Apart from slowing our pace significantly, Jill finds the loose shingle increases the pull on her knee and it takes time to settle down again even after regaining firm ground.

Ahead of us we could see the red flags of the Lydd Firing ranges confirming what I already knew: that the area was closed – as it turned out both for repairs to the sea wall and also for firing practice.

At the junction where the road came down to the sea, was a whole rag bag of people; there were sea anglers a plenty, many with supporters making little camps on the shingle and eventually we came across a group of East Asians of some sort with a big tent set up on the shingle and a big BBQ loaded with meat. 

Viewing the way along the shore, it was clear that walking the shingle would be nigh on impossible and encroaching into MOD territory was clearly not an option. The firing ranges are like an isosceles triangle we would have to walk both the long sides of it.

Walking the concrete road around the perimeter of the firing range was extremely tedious and, along with the road back out to the coast, we had 7 miles of hard surface walking; the concrete road surface is remarkably hard on the feet. The view across Dungeness, whilst initially interesting, soon loses its appeal since it is all the same. Though here is a bird reserve over much of the area, we saw hardly anything of interest. Eventually we walked up alongside the training rigs for combat training in built-up areas. Finally we reached the road but there was nowhere to stop for a rest or a drink so Jill lent up against a garden fence to pack away her gilet and, as it was now quite hot, again roll up her trousers, not having expected to need shorts for this autumn trip. We then had to turn down the other side of Lydd Camp and follow a combined footpath/cycle path all the way to the sea at Jury’s Gap.

I had been hopeful that there would be a café at Jury’s Gap or at least a snack wagon but there appeared to be nothing. We settled on getting on to the beach and sitting on rocks used to reinforce the sea wall. The beach was very busy especially with people kite-surfing but it was good fun to watch.

After lunch we set off to walk 1 1/2 miles along the beach until we came to a footpath off the beach. It was all sand where the tide had retreated.

As we left the beach we were hailed by a man crossing the road towards us – another chance meeting, this time with the family whose son had been getting plastered in mud at Lydd-on-Sea yesterday afternoon.

Having left the beach we had half a mile of a combined footpath/cycle track alongside the road. Fortunately there is a footpath which turns off and goes through Rye golf club to the sea wall which we followed all the way into Rye.

Rye was busy being a sunny Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately we failed to find a a suitable ice-cream stand or café in time for us to catch the 16:05 bus back to The Pilot Inn at Lydd-on-Sea.

We had  a pleasant drive to Hastings and checked into the Travelodge, basic but adequate, and had supper in a Turkish restaurant. Being a Sunday night there was not a lot of choice but we were very pleased with our meal.

Saturday 12th September 2020

Yet another warm and sunny day was forecast. We got the 8:20 bus back to Folkestone and set off along the road round the marina and then on to the beach. Fortunately a boardwalk has been created so walking out of Folkestone was quite easy, otherwise walking on the shingle beach would have slow going.

Folkestone has an art project “Creative Folkestone Artworks” and we passed two or three of the installations. Sometimes they seemed inappropriately located. There are 74 exhibits making it the UK’s largest urban outdoor exhibition of contemporary art. With those three caveats I am less impressed.

The board walk gave way to a concrete sea wall and we walked along this into Hythe where we had coffee and chocolate brownies sitting on a bench on the promenade.

I had checked the firing times for the MOD ranges at Hythe and they confirmed there would be no activity today. However, looking along the beach there were large numbers diggers and excavators working and a ship of some sort was hard in on the beach (see top left of above picture). A sign merely said to take care as this was a “working beach”. Unusually for me, I decided we should not risk the beach and rather head inland on the official coast path alongside the Royal Military Canal and then back to the sea about two miles further along the coast. The Royal Military Canal was built not as a waterway but as a moat across Romney Marsh so that it could be defended in the event of an invasion from France. Attempts were made to secure commercial traffic but I imagine a canal which goes from nowhere useful to nowhere useful was unlikely to be a commercial success.

We enjoyed the walk along the canal, it was shady and cool and we crossed the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch narrow gauge railway line. This 15 inch railway has 1/3 size rolling stock and was the brainchild of a pair of wealthy racing drivers. Originally it was twin tracked the whole way but it lost the other track when it was requisitioned in WWII. It did, however, acquire the only narrow gauge armoured rolling stock and was used in the construction of PLUTO, the pipeline under the ocean which fuelled the allied invasion forces.

When we rejoined the sea wall we could look back and see that the coast route would have been impossible. JCBs were lifting huge blocks of stone off the beached ship and laying them on the sea wall to enhance the sea defences.

From here the rest of the walk could be simply described as walking along the sand to The Pilot Inn at Lydd-on-Sea.

The tide was almost fully out and so we took to the beach as soon as we were past any groynes that would get in the way. Then it was level, damp sand all the way. As a result we saw nothing of Dymchurch, St Mary’s Greatstone or Littlestone or New Romney. We did see the water tower at Littlestone mainly because, at 120 feet in height, it is visible from a distance. Despite its grand appearance it never functioned because the water was found to be too salty. It is now a residence.

As we walked, the vastness of St Mary’s Bay at low tide became apparent. There were acres and acres of sand and mud flat and we had a view all the way to Dungeness over ten miles away. The beauty of this beach walk is that there are no streams or rivers discharging into the bay and so the walk is genuinely uninterrupted – at low tide. When the tide is right in, all the sand would be covered and walkers would have to walk the shingle or walk on the sea wall or road. Walking steeply shelving shingle is not a realistic option.

At lunch time we walked up to the sea wall which is stepped on the seaward side and had our lunch watching people enjoying the beach. In truth there were very few people there.

After lunch, a couple of sand-sailors sailed past us. We were surprised to see some people very far out on the flats some obviously digging for worms whilst others appeared to be walking dogs. I guess they knew what they were doing but I imagine the tide comes in very fast. Just before we left the beach we said a cheery hello to a family whose son had just paddled into a mud flat and emerged with black mud halfway up his calves.

When I gauged we were close to the Pilot Inn at Lydd-on-Sea we headed up the beach over the shingle banks. Fortunately at the top we were not far from a track made across the shingle to the road. At the Pilot Inn I phoned for a taxi to take us all the way back to Dover.

Friday 11th September

The simplest way to get from Dover to Deal to restart out walk was to get a bus which conveniently dropped us very close to where we finished yesterday.

We set off along the promenade which was busy with runners, dog walkers and cyclists and a fair number of mobility scooters. We passed Deal Castle then, a little later, Walmer Castle. Generally the path was good, though at one point it was over loose shingle for a couple of hundred yards which was very difficult.

At Kingsdown there appeared to be a choice between walking the shore as far as Hope Point along a right-of-way and then ascending the cliff or walking the top of the cliff from Kingsdown. We decided to try the shore path since the tide was going out. The path went between the cliff and the high wire fence enclosing an old MOD site, though we noticed dog walkers were choosing to walk through the MOD site. After half a mile ominously the path emerged through a section of broken down fence. There was a sign warning walkers that the path beyond was tidal and there was a risk of getting cut off but we were on a falling tide. The we came to an impasse. At some time the sea had broken through under the sea defences leaving the steps to cross the sea wall suspended in air and there was no way we could scale a twelve foot high sea wall and get across to the shore beyond.

• 

• 

• 

• 

There was nothing for it but to retrace our steps and go over the top of the cliffs. From Kingsdown the path began to climb and we could see a monument of some sort from a distance.

Overlooking St Margaret’s Bay is a war memorial from WW1 in memory of the men lost from Dover Patrol. The Dover Patrol was a Royal Naval Command based at Dover and Dunkirk whose prime function was to keep the Channel free from German shipping forcing them to go around Scotland to reach the Atlantic.

To my surprise, whilst taking photos of the memorial, my mobile phone announced a message from EE which welcomed me to France and reassured me my roaming would keep me in touch. Soon afterwards my phone was the Orange Fr network. Sure enough France was visible across the Channel (well, where else would it be?) but I was surprised that there was no useable UK signal. This was to cause problems for us when sorting out our photos because the French signal meant my phone was reset to French time and made the photos out of sequence.

The walking was easy on chalk grassland, chalk or in places tarmac. The ups and downs seemed rather pleasant since nearly all our walking has been on the level since Bridlington, I think, except for the short length of cliff at Hunstanton.

• 

The path continued towards Dover over the increasingly high, white cliffs. It was quite busy with tourists being part of the White Cliffs Country Park and Trail but there were and one or two serious walkers.

At South Foreland there is lighthouse; the first to be electrified. We passed the White Cliffs tourist centre and café but it was very busy so we did not stop. The carpark was full and so it was not surprising that once we had passed the centre, there were fewer other people on the path.

• 

• 

• 

• 

As we approached Dover we had good views of the castle.

The path descends steeply and passes under the dual carriageway to the ferry terminal. Soon we were walking along the prom on the harbour.

We did not pause as we passed the Premier Inn where we are staying. We walked through the Marina and then along the cycle/footpath alongside the A20 until until near Shakespeare Cliffs we turned on to the coast path now shared by The England Coast Path, The Saxon Shore Path and the North Downs Way.

The path had a number of walkers and runners on it. We stood aside to let a couple of middle-aged men  in black tee shirts run past us. Then, in the now familiar absence of a bench when we wanted one, we settled down on the grass for our lunch and were passed by more walkers and runners. Looking down from the cliff edge we could see the railway running between us and the sea.

• 

• 

• 

At Capel-le-Ferne the path winds round above The Warren. The path, in places, is quite narrow and right on the edge of the cliff. As we came to the end of a narrow section there is a little café where stopped for a mug of tea.

Teas downed, we started along the path again and passed in front of a bench where I could just as easily have walked behind it. There were three people seated on it. All of a sudden, there was a moment of recognition when the Polish woman we had shared a table with on our way into Sittingbourne five days ago, recognised it was us and we recognised her. She was so excited – she really wanted to give us a hug but Covid-19 etiquette intervened. We enjoyed another little chat and explained the background to her two friends who were rather surprised when she had leapt up to greet two apparent total strangers.

Shortly after the café, we passed the the Battle of Britain Memorial Museum. On another occasion I would go into the Visitor Centre but we really don’t have time for many diversions. It was good just walking through the park they have created.

• 

• 

We continued along the path which then descended quite steeply into Folkestone, past yet more Martello Towers, one highly renovated and adapted as a residence and the other in a more authentic condition but with what appears to be a WWII addition on top.

• 

• 

As we reached the promenade, a man with wife and child hailed me. He was one of the runners in black tee shirts that passed us as we left Dover. His run finished, he was out with his family. He was genuinely interested to learn about our trip.

We walked along the sea front and past the harbour and then walked up into the town to the bus station and caught a bus back to Dover.

That evening, I randomly selected an Italian restaurant, El Rustico, not too far from the hotel. As we were taken to our table we walked past two couples already seated and one of the men exclaimed, “You’re walking the coast of Britain!” He recognised us as we had stopped to chat to them as we climbed up the Shakespeare Cliffs coming out of Dover; they had asked where we had walked from, to which Cliff had given his usual reply of “Berwick-on-Tweed”. We now had to explain why we were now back in Dover when they knew we had been en route to Folkestone.

So that was three people who recognised us when we met for a second time all on one day – remarkable.

Thursday 10th September 2020

We did not delay at the hotel this morning because we had a long day ahead of us and Jill was without her walking poles. We had ascertained that we could get a new pair from Mountain Hardware in Deal so we needed to get there before they closed. We packed up the car and drove to Dumpton Park station where Jill taped a notice about her missing poles to the station seat where she had left them including her phone number. We then left the car near the Memorial Park where we finished last night.

We started walking along the cliff top and were just about to descend to the start of Ramsgate Beach when Jill’s phone rang. A morning commuter had spotted Jill’s poles on the railway lines at Dumpton Park. It sounded as if one at least might be intact and perhaps retrievable. So, at Jill’s request, we about turned and went back to the station where we could see her poles on the tracks. They had presumably been found soon after she left them behind by the local youngsters who then thought it would be good fun to throw them on the tracks. They were clearly damaged but Jill thought we might be able to make one good pole out of the parts. With some difficulty, I persuaded Jill that we should not try an extract the poles from the line. I pointed out that there was the risk of a train coming, that it was a criminal offence to trespass on the railway line and, not least of all, there is a live rail on Southern Rail services. So we restarted our walk and Jill borrowed my walking poles.

We went down the ramp and steps to Ramsgate beach and walked along the promenade.

When we came to the town it was quite lively with lots of cafés.

We continued along the promenade until it stopped and signs on the road said that no pedestrians or cyclists allowed through the Pegwell Tunnel. We were faced with the option of an uncertain walk around the end of the cliff on to the mud/sandflats of Pegwell Bay or going over the top. The tide was reasonably well out but the mixture of uneven rocks and seaweed banks did not look very promising and so we took the sensible option and climbed the path to the cliff top and walked over the top of the tunnel.

• 

• 

On the cliff at Pegwell is the replica Viking Ship “Hugin” which was sailed from Denmark to Thanet in 1949 in commemoration of the Viking invasion 1500 years before.

Then we wound around the edge of Pegwell Bay and through a nature reserve which was quite pretty.

Unfortunately, we found that the path is currently diverted from the edge of the bay on to a noisy dual carriageway for a substantial amount of the way into Sandwich. The town of Sandwich is a bustling own with many old buildings, little roads and fortunately – cafés. We stopped at the “No Name Delicatessen” for coffee and a couple of sausage rolls which were all very good and I recommend a visit if you are in Sandwich. You should be able to find the “No Name Delicatessen” as it is, appropriately, in “No Name Street”.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Having enjoyed our coffee stop it was time to move on. We wandered through the pretty streets of Sandwich and returned to the banks of the River Stour to follow it as closely as we could back to the coast. There is a defined route for the England Coast Path here and so we followed it along the sea wall which was quite simple if, albeit, not a very direct route back to the coast. The land around is Access Land and so in theory we could have tried taking some short cuts but keeping to a path is usually the best policy if you don’t want to be challenged by barbed wire fences and minor creeks to cross. We eventually got back to the coast by walking round the end of the Princes Golf Club. The Sandwich Bay links are home to two more golf clubs, the Royal St George and the Cinque Ports Golf Clubs and we would walk the length of all three.

Having got back to the coast we were probably only 2 miles from Ramsgate as the crow flies but had walked over ten miles from Ramsgate.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We now had about 6 miles of walking along the beach until we reached Deal. Once again there were no comfortable benches to hand, well – only within the golf courses which were being well used. So for lunch we hollowed out seats on the shingle bank.

The rest of the day was much the same, either walking the sand at the sea margin or up on the shingle bank which was generally pretty stable for walking.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The day remained bright and sunny and was plenty warm enough. We came into Deal and found the branch of Mountain Warehouse and they had a selection of walking poles from which Jill chose a pair of lightweight, carbon fibre poles.

The trains from Deal go quite frequently but many do not stop at Dumpton Park so we settled for a train to Ramsgate and a short taxi ride back to Dumpton. Then we drove to Dover where we would stay for the next three nights.

Wednesday 9th September 2020

Another warm day was in prospect and we had a long walk so we were off by 8:00. We wanted to get to Dumpton Park today so that tomorrow we had a manageable walk all the way to Deal.

We headed back down to the coast where we had left it last night.

After about half a mile along the promenade, we had to climb up to the cliff edge to proceed. It was quite pleasant following a grassy clifftop path, we don’t seem to have done that for months.

• 

• 

Ahead we could see the twin towers of the ruin of St Mary’s Church at Reculver. This church was originally established as a monastery back in the 700s and by the time of Domesday Book it was a parish church. Originally it had spires on each of the towers. The remains are still visible from miles and miles away along the coast.

• 

• 

• 

From there we were on the sea wall alongside Birchington Marsh for over three miles. The tarmac path seemed to go on for ever. This route is part of a National Cycle Route and we were passed by cyclists quite frequently.

When we came to Birchington and then Westgate it was clear we were in an affluent area with impressive architect-designed houses squeezed in anywhere offering a sea view. There was a good promenade all the way. We were at Westgate by 10:30 and stopped for coffee and sat out in the sunshine enjoying the sunshine and sea views.

We got going again and with the tide out we would liked to have walked on the beach but there were fairly regular groynes and also a line of water and rotting seaweed making it difficult to get to clear sand. The banks of rotting seaweed were unpleasantly smelly.

We met a group of cyclists who were keen to hear about our walk. Two of them, Hilda and Graham Heap, have devised the Greenwich Meridian Trail, marked the route and written the four guide books. The trail is a long distance path which attempts to follow the line of the Greenwich Meridian from Yorkshire  down to Peacehaven in Sussex, which is no mean feat since the meridian is a theoretical line which follows no natural features. We have crossed the Meridian Trail a few times on our walk.

When we came to Margate we were able to get on to the sand and enjoyed striding out – another thing we have not been able to do since we were in Norfolk.

• 

• 

Margate has a huge sea swimming pool which was being used by quite a few swimmers. We could have visited the Turner Gallery but it appeared to be closed. There was an Anthony Gormley statue standing in the sea, the last time we saw one of those was when we were in Liverpool.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We were able to walk on the sand pretty much all the way to Foreness Point. There we left the beach and walked along the cliff top path.

• 

• 

• 

We stopped for our lunch on a bench by Whiteness Tower where three people were recording a rap video.

• 

• 

The tower, also known as Neptunes Tower, is an 18th century folly. Further along the coast is the impressive Kingsgate Castle which is also the fancy of the same 18th century Henry Fox, first Baron Holland of Foxley. It is a private residence.

We walked on the landward side of the castle and then around the cliff top at North Foreland. There are some fabulous houses here. We had to take a detour inland to get round a select development before descending steps in narrow alley to reach the beach  at East Cliff. A group of ladies sunning themselves on the beach were keen to chat and hear about our walk.

• 

• 

• 

At Broadstairs Viking Bay, we cut around the back of the beach by the beach huts on a board walk. Then walked past South Cliff and Dumpton gap.

From Broadstairs the path climbed on to the cliff edge once more and we passed more big houses before we reached the King George VI Memorial gardens where we were going to turn inland and to go to the station. Quite by chance we came across the beautiful Italianate Glasshouse Tearoom where we stopped for tea and glasses of water. It had been a very hot day.

Tea done we walked to the station and waited for the next train back to Herne Bay. Unfortunately, preoccupied with finding her mask ready for the approaching train, Jill left her walking poles on platform.

At Herne Bay station there was no bus for ages and not even a taxi and so we briskly walked the one and half miles back to the hotel (after already walking 20 miles today). Jill then drove back to Dumpton Park but was unable to find her walking poles.

Supper was another excellent pizza at “A Casa Mia”.

Tuesday 8th September 2020

The Premier Inn in Herne Bay is a good way from the rail station so we got a bus to the railway station. I was disappointed to discover that my “wrinkly bus pass” is not valid before 9:30. (It would have been valid during lock-down but that concession ended on the 1st September.) Never mind; a short bus ride and then a train to Faversham and we were walking before 9:00.

• 

We walked back down through Market St where we had had tea yesterday. This morning the market was in full swing and there was bakery stall with almond croissants so we got two of them. At last our walk is looking up. I like stopping at little cafés and bakeries for coffees and teas but there were so few in Essex and before then we were walking in winter when most seaside places were closed.

• 

• 

We set off through the pretty old streets of Faversham and then turned on to the path down the side of Faversham Creek. Being low tide it really looked a pathetic dribble of water.

We continued along the side of the Swale and gradually the Isle of Sheppey got more and more distant. Having reached the banks of the Swale we had no more estuaries to wall along today and it felt like we were making progress. We overtook a a couple of women who said they were anxious about the cows ahead on the sea wall. Happy for us to go first, we were able to call back and reassure them their “cows” were actually sheep so unlikely to pose a threat. (There were actually some cows but they were separated from the sea wall by a fence, except for a couple which had apparently got through the fence.) To our delight, as we approached closer, we could see it was a flock of Herdwick sheep. It was good to see them but they were a long way from their native Cumbria. Out to sea we could see the old forts that were used by pirate radio stations back in the 1960s.

• 

• 

• 

• 

As we came to Graveney Marshes there was a group of shacks along a section of beach whose owners were very protective of their land above the high water mark but we were able to follow a path in the intertidal zone.

Then there were some more organised properties similar to the plot-landers at Jaywick but generally in better condition. There was also a large caravan/chalet park. With every yard we walked, the properties became better and bigger and more expensive. Having negotiated the railway line, which runs very close to the shore at one point, we were soon walking on the promenade/seawall and came into Whitstable. 

The west end of Whitstable is the busy end with all the fishing boats the fish market and lots of cafés and a permanent market. We would have stopped for coffee and some lunch but the place was absolutely heaving and we hate queuing (which is a problem in these Covid Times.)

We carried on along the promenade and had our simple lunch on a bench looking out to sea at the less crowded Tankerton Beach. The weather had really warmed up and we both felt the sun burning our necks. After lunch we only had about four miles to go. This would be entirely on the promenade because the stony beach was divided by regular groynes making walking impossible.

• 

• 

By the time we reached Herne Bay we felt we had earned ourselves an ice-cream. We passed the impressive war memorial and then the statue of the diminutive Amy Johnson who died when she crashed into Herne Bay in WWII in slightly mysterious circumstances. It is possible her plane was brought down by friendly fire. A rescue ship, failed to pick her up and it has been suggested that she may have been sucked into its propeller vortex. Her body was never recovered.

The pier at Herne Bay is just the remains of the third pier. The central section disintegrated and was lost but the end of the pier is still present though the remains look in a very poor state.

• 

• 

Near Beltinge we left the sea front and walked up to the Premier Inn.

In the evening we went back to the sea front and had fish and chips as the sun went down.

• 

Monday 7th August 2020

We awoke to another fine day. We got everything packed up and left the car in the hotel car park and set off to resume our walk. We walked through the industrial area of Sittingbourne which kept us away from Milton Creek. Eventually we came to the bank of Milton Creek and proceeded under the relatively new bridge which brings the Swale Way from the new A249. Soon we were walking along opposite where we had lunch on the bench yesterday.

We continued past the old oyster pools. Just past these pools there is a bank of shingle which runs well out into the channel and there is a corresponding small spit on the other side and a few posts. This, I think, is the site of the ancient foot and animal ferry to the Isle of Elmley which is effectively part of the Isle of Sheppey. There are still some posts which mark the landing points. The existence of the ferry is recorded in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 6, first published in 1798. However I found this on a website: “During the reign of Edward I, according to the historian Charles Igglesden, a bridge connected Sheppey to the mainland at Elmley. It was called the Tremsethg Bridge, but was lost in a tidal wave and never replaced.” It would be remarkable if any remains of a bridge 800 years old would still be in evidence today. The quote is repeated in different locations on the web but I can find no provenance for it.

The tide in the Swale was almost completely out. We continued along the sea wall and then turned up Conyer Creek. This creek seems unbelievably narrow at low tide and it seemed unlikely that there could be much in the way of a marina at Conyer. However, the creek is packed with boats on their moorings around Conyer and a couple of very active boatyards.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We set off down the opposite bank of Conyer Creek. The path turned right along the Swale. As we approached the Oare nature reserve we were surprised at the number of bird watchers especially considering it was a Monday. From the nature reserve we followed up Oare Creek; there were a couple cafés but neither was open on a Monday.

We crossed the creek and started back down the other side and once we were clear of all the boat yards we settled down on the side of the sea wall and had our lunch. There were birds to spot. There was a large flock of something we did not identify with certainty.

• 

• 

• 

• 

From there it was fairly easy 2.5 miles into Faversham which is pretty, thriving town. We stopped for tea and cake sitting next to the market hall.

Then we went to the station and got the train to Sittingbourne, collected the car and drove to the Premier Inn at Herne Bay. We had a pizza supper at “A Mia Casa”  which according to the Guardian food critic is the best pizza house outside London. It was indeed very good but equally the food critic may not be very well travelled.

Sunday 6th August 2020

Today we walked to Sittingbourne Station and and went one stop to Rainham Station. We walked back through the housing estate to to Otterham Creek to pick up where we had finished last night. It was a nice morning with the promise of it becoming quite warm; I was in shorts once more. There was a short section where the coast was inaccessible but it was pleasant enough walking through the orchards which were burgeoning with fruit.

We were surprised by how many small pears were left unharvested after the pickers had picked all those large enough for the market. We helped ourselves to one or two of the larger fallers for later in the day. It was then a pleasant coastal walk to Lower Halstow. This was the first and last village of the day and being a Sunday morning nothing at all in the way of refreshments were available.

After that we had the choice of following the B road which ran close to the shore but was narrow in places and had no pavement or going further inland to follow the route of the Saxon Shore Way. We opted for the road. The traffic was very light and we did get views of the estuary and salt marshes.

Saxon Shore Way was a feature of this entire section of our walk and indeed we would be following it for a considerable distance, albeit intermittently. It starts at Gravesend and finishes at Hastings and apparently tries to follow the course of the shore in Saxon times. In general this means that the Saxon Shore Way cuts inland across big chunks of land that have been reclaimed from the sea, but for the sake of convenience it also follows sections of the coast that I am pretty certain would have been underwater or salt marsh 1500 years ago. Anyway I think it substitutes for a formal Kent Coast Path which would alliterate just as well.

We turned off the road back on to the Saxon Shore Way for a loop of Chetney Marshes. In fact, one can only access the shoreward half of this little peninsula; the rest is private. There is a little bay where old barges and other small boats used to be beached and left to disintegrate. I think I counted 17 different hulls.

This brought us round to the channel between the mainland and the Isle of Sheppey called the Swale. Where there was once a ferry to the Isle of Sheppey there are now two bridges. The old bridge carries the B2231 and the railway. It is a lift bridge, the  central span lifting horizontally between two towers. We were able to watch it in action when a small ship went through. The new bridge carries the A249 dual carriageway on the island. The area around the bridges for some reason is very popular with jet skiers and other low life. 

After the bridges, the path winds its way through industrial sites on the banks of the Swale. Near Ridham Docks we walked round a field which had been taken over by more low-life, this time with dirt track motor bikes racing round and round, some riders had no helmets others were giving “backies” to girlfriends and some dads were giving extremely young children rides on the petrol tank. There were quite young children on miniature motorbikes. It all seemed a bit unregulated and a dangerous form of Sunday afternoon entertainment.

It was quite hot and well past lunchtime but the path was just squeezed in between the the Kemsley Paper Mill and the Swale and there was no where convenient to perch. There has been a paper mill on the site for decades but now it works entirely with recycled paper and also developing an energy plant for “pot-recycled waste”.

We were keen to find a bench to sit on and have lunch. This we eventually achieved at Kemsley Marsh which is an old land-fill site that has been buried and grassed over and so is not ugly and not smelly. We looked across the Swale and the old oyster ponds. There was a large round table with four integral benches and a single woman sitting on one of the benches. She was quite happy for us to join her and we had a nice chat. She was Polish and had lived in Sittingbourne for ten years but returned to Poland to care for her elderly mother. She was on holiday visiting her sister who still lived in Sittingbourne. She was walking along the sea wall; a walk she enjoyed when she lived there and told us quite a lot about the local area.

After lunch we moved on and only had about three miles to go. We passed under the new bridge for the Swale Way which connects industrial area an each side of the Milton Creek. This is inaccessible from the path and so we continued up the side of Milton Creek, past industrial units to Sittingbourne.