England coats path Part 1A Sandbanks to Christchurch Via Ferry Across To Mudeford

 

Sandbanks to Christchurch Via Ferry Across To Mudeford

Distance 13:69 Miles

Elevation Gain 297 Feet

Time 04:27:00

So, the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that Sandbanks is not after Dover. 

We have a bit of gap filling to do as when we finished the ''official South West Coast Path'' at Poole Harbour. (Did I mention that it is 630 Miles but we walked 660 Miles?)

We jumped to Goring as a day trip & that is where this ''England Coast Path'' plan was hatched!

Anyway I digress, You will notice a slightly different numbering system as we jump around the country to fill in the gaps some West to East some East to West.

Another beautiful day Very hot & both the beach & promenade are busy so we walk along the sand next to the waters edge where the sand is hard & the walking easy.

It's obviously been quite a windy time as you can see from the above Picture the promenade benches are buried in sand.

Empty Part of Beach

We leave the beach & climb up onto the cliff top with views out across the sea. The Goats on the cliff top are helping to keep the vegetation under control.

Although today in the heat even the Goats are taking it easy!

We ''plod'' on to Mudeford past some lovely well used beach huts with families boating, BBQing & generally just having fun! At the end of the peninsula we take the ferry across to Christchurch but we must have had heat stroke as we don't have any photographic evidence!

Again the Beaches & Car Parks of Christchurch are packed. We stop at a retail outlet & treat ourselves to an Ice Cream. Passing Christchurch Priory & the end of our day's walk.

Christchurch Priory

Route

England Coast Path Part 11 Hythe to Dover Via Folkstone Harbour

Hythe to Dover Via Folkstone Harbour

Distance 14:35 Miles

Elevation Gain 1240 Feet

Time 05:08:07 Hours 

So today we are treated to a fly by from a Spitfire as pictured above 😂!

Almost dead centre of the picture.

(If only I had a camera, One with a zoom facility would be nice)

We start our walk at Hythe where we left off on the previous day, we have been walking for Three days & the weather has been very kind to us the whole time.

Leaving Hythe along the promenade we head out upwards & across the cliff tops & down towards Folkstone, passing through a park with art installations.

The ledge 2017 Artist Bill Woodrow

Description 

Climate change has preoccupied the artist for many years, The Sculptures architectural base sitting on a black puddle shape refers to exploitation of fossil fuels for the development of the modern world, The Inuit & the seal evoke an ancient way of life, standing on thin ice while the strong horizontals suggest the rising water resulting from the disappearing polar ice caps, an ice berg melting into a pool of oil.

We can see the landscaping that has been done around the Channel tunnel. The reclaimed land now a nature reserve known as ''Samphire hoe'' created from Chanel tunnel spoil.

Pretty fishing harbour

Folkstone is a pretty old fishing harbour, Leaving Folkstone our path now heads up hill again up on to the cliff tops, passing relics of the second world war giant concrete listening devices & interesting rotting fence posts.

Continuing on over a golf course onto Capel-le-Ferne Battle of Britain memorial site.(It was near here that we were treated to the Spitfire fly past)

We are now walking on the North downs way which we have previously walked so a little familiarity.

The the trucks are queued up along the A20 waiting to enter the port of Dover which, due too industrial action by the ferry workers is on a very limited service, the que is as far as you can see. BUT there are no facilities for the truck drivers!

Trucks queuing along the A20
Passing through fields of cows which Lesley loves! 

We arrive at dover & Lesley takes a selfie

Not a flattering picture!

 We head off to the bus stop passing pubs with the football fans spilling out onto the streets & a strong police present's

England Coast Path Part 10 Dungeness to Hythe & Dymchurch miniature railway station

 

Dungeness to Hythe & Dymchurch miniature railway station

Distance 12:70 Miles

Elevation Gain 0:44:00 Feet

Time 04:10:46

So, the keen eyed amongst you will have spotted this is walking two days in a row, well we love this part or the world Dungeness with it's black lighthouse long stony beaches & it's another beautiful day why waste it sitting dying in an armchair! 

Chairs kill you know, (You may have heard me say it once or twice)

We are aiming for Hythe, We are lucky & are able to park the car next to the bus stop ready for our return journey later on in the day  Its another beautiful day & today involves walking along the beach which we have to ourselves!

The shells, worm casts & drift wood are all really quite amazing to see we even come across a beached jelly fish.

Jelly fish

Worm Casts

Amazing shell formations

Drift wood

We pass some lovely big old houses & this interesting tower which we think is someone's house.

We are getting peckish as we approach Littlestone & find a nice tea shop where we fill up on coffee & cake & make a purchase of Ducky.

Ducky is welcomed

With restored energy we continued our mission to walk the England Coast Path we are now off the stones & on a concrete promenade next to the sea wall.

 

 

We arrive at our destination & finish our days walking & head off to the bus stop for our return journey back to the car.

Route

England Coast path Part 9 Camber sands to Dungeness

 

Camber sands to Dungeness

Distance 13:07 Miles

Elevation 67 Feet

Time 04:36:47

May, A beautiful day, today we are walking from Camber sands to Dungeness via the power Station we have to go inland to avoid the Military Zone.

Dungeness has always been a favourite spot of mine, some what seeming to be remote with a sense of awe, the wind can blow cold across the pebbled beaches with the black light house towering up above the land scape but before we reach this point we have to walk around the militarized zone.

Route

Route around the military zone

The route around the military zone via Lydd was interesting with plenty of electricity pylons taking the electricity to homes offices & factories. Nature, along side chain link fences adorned our route, No sign of any military action. 

We pass traditional fisherman's houses beautiful scenery & rusty old farm machinery.

We walk past the lighthouse & stop off for a well earned coffee & cake at a little café on the Dungeness headland.

Refreshed we continue our way along the stones of Dungeness headland finishing our day at Lydd-on-Sea.

England Coast path Part 8 Fairlight to Pontins camber Sands Via Rye Harbour

 

Fairlight to Pontins camber Sands Via Rye Harbour

Distance 13:86 Miles

Elevation Gain 190 Feet

Time 4:18:00 

Today we have our guest walker Joseph with us again, It's a late start on the walk as we had to get a bus to Rye town & a second bus to Fairlight, back to the commanders bus stop.

It was an overcast day with cool air temperature walking was easy a mixture of industrial costal & country side taking in the famous beach of winchelsea which was the most challenging part as it involved walking over the pebbles for quite some distance!

The black clouds did close in on us & we had a downpour for all of five minutes which made us damp. 

We  & some passers by got attacked by some long feathery grasses courtesy of the younger member of our group, it was quite amusing  finished the day with a bag of well earned chips.

Route

England Coast Path Part 7 Hastings to Fairlight

 So we said we had finished for the day but with good weather, time & energy left we checked the transport situation from fairlight & found there was a bus service so continued on our mission of the England Coast Path.

Hastings to Fairlight 

Distance 4:80 Miles Total for the day 12:10 Miles

Elevation gain 1,068 Feet

Time 01:47:00

So this section is where the hill was! a relatively gentle climb through Hastings country park across grassy open spaces, through wood lands and up onto the cliff top passing some lovely houses with great views.

Actual finish for the day

We finished our walk & headed to the bus stop called the Commanders bus stop. A short walk from the channel way sign. A residential quiet area leading only to the cliff top so we expected 

Commanders Bus stop
(Image courtesy of Google)

As you can see a  quiet residential area leading only to the cliff top so we expected a local hopper type bus bot NO a double decker bus appeared! we boarded the bus & headed to our car. Total distance for the day was 12:10 Miles