England Coast Path Part 17 Herne bay to Faversham

Herne bay to Faversham

Distance 14:28 miles

Elevation gain 0 feet !

Time 05:00 Hours

Well as you can see from the stats It's flat ZERO feet gained.

We are blessed yet again another lovely sunny day. Today on our route we will be passing through Whitstable Bay famous for its oyster trade, Hopefully I will be able to sample some oysters.

Faversham is located at the head of the River Swale inland so we will be following it inland from the sea. 

Our walk as always starts from where we left off on our previous walk be it the day before or months apart. Today is following on from yesterday starting at The cosy cat café heading East along the sea front a flat easy walk nothing to report or photograph sea to our right & the promenade beneath our feet!

Quite conveniently it's lunch time & we are at Whitstable Bay oyster shack, it's a very busy bustling place & we compete for space on the promenade, a lovely atmosphere with the sun shining down & people enjoying drinks & of course Oysters.

There are lot's places selling oysters all with ques, We pick one ''The Oyster shed'' & stand in line watching the staff very skilfully shucking  the oysters, (Yes the correct term for opening them) £10.00 for Half dozen so not too bad really.

Shucking the Oysters is a skilled job, At the front of the line we find that you can have them with Lemon, with Tabasco  sauce or with Shallot Sauce so I take all three, We are served & take the Oysters down onto the beach sitting in the breakwater  in the sun just a perfect spot.

The dressings were all very tasty but I preferred the ones with lemon as it allowed one to taste more of the Oyster, the others overpowered the Oysters.

 I have little fishes on a dish

After I have eaten we are back on the path onward with our journey towards Faversham past beach huts raised up on the shore beside the path & children playing on the beach with the tide out the sea is in the distance.

The path turns inland along the banks of the river Swale the tide out leaving mud flats for the birds to forage on.

We arrive at the end of our walk Faversham  an old market town mentioned in the doomsday book of 1086 & home of the Shepard Neame Brewery founded in 1698 still a major employer in the area. 

England Coast Path Part 16 Margate to Herne Bay

 Margate to Herne Bay.

14:14 Miles

Time 03:45 Miles

Elevation Gain 351 Feet

We start our day with a walk up the hill of Broadstairs High Street to the station to catch a train to Herne bay & we will walk back to Margate where we intend to visit the Turner art gallery & have a better look around Margate before getting the train back to Broadstairs.

Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson was the first Female to fly solo from London to Australia I can be seen here congratulating her on her achievement. She was no stranger to flight & set many long distance records during her life time.

Recluver Tower

We leave Herne bay passing Recluver Tower & roman fort passing through the car park just as a coach full of Students pull up, We try to keep ahead of the group as they make their way up the path but pausing to take the pictures we get engulfed by them so wait for them to pass.

Hoping that they will stop & start their studies at the Roman fort area they continue to walk a considerable distance & don't stop until they reach the sea wall climbing over it & onto the shingle beach, We think they were geography students studying the beach & not history students studying the Roman fort.

This is a very open path with no shelter from the wind which is continuously blowing into our faces, the open land scape is littered with an excessive amount of plastic rubbish being blown about by the wind with no places to hide, an environmental catastrophe for the area. 

Sculpture of Portland limestone showing of a sitting boy with a boat in his hands.

After our windy but lovely walk we arrive in Margate where they are still filming so we have a 'Nose' around the back of the cinema where we see the trailers parked up with loads of cables going into the cinema, With the fun fair fenced off all part of the film set we go & find a coffee before we go to the Turner art Gallery.

We then go back to the station & our ride back to Broadstairs, we get a little disorientated coming out of Broadstairs station but are shown the right direction by a lovely young man who points us in the right direction & happens to be going our way, we end up walking together down the high street.

Route

England Coast Path Part 15 Broadstairs to Birchington-on-sea

Broadstairs to Birchington-on-sea

Distance 10:93 Miles

Time 03:51:02

Elevation Gain 349 Feet

Well I titled it Broadstairs to Birchington-on- Sea but we actually walked Birchington-on-Sea to Broadstairs purely for the fact that it is nicer to get the train journey in the morning when we are fresh.

The morning was cool but bright & we had to walk from the Station to the seafront where the days costal walking begins.

Birchington-on -Sea

                                                    

The writing's on the wall, it's official, we have walked from Minehead to Birchington-on-Sea. We have been blessed with the weather, on our entire journey it has only rained on us a couple of times!

We have seen a variety of  well cared for beach huts & some in not such good order. Further on down the coast we pass through Margate passing the lovely Art Décor cinema where they were filming ''Empire of light'' set in the early  80's https://www.visitthanet.co.uk/empire-of-light/

Art Décor Empire cinema in Margate

Margate sea front

Some sneaky pictures of the actors/extra's on the film set ''Empire of light''

We find a great little coffee shop where we stop for a drink & cake before continuing back along the coast to Broadstairs where we walk back to our accommodation for an evening rest. 

 Route

England Coast Path Part 14 Sandwich to Broadstairs

 Sandwich to Broadstairs

 Distance 9.62 Miles

Time 03:13:01 

Elevation gain 260 Feet

As we are staying in Broadstairs just a few meters from the path we decide that we will walk from our accommodation to Sandwich, it's a relatively short walk flat & easy.

The photo below is apparently a famous Italian ice cream parlour but for now it's early morning & closed so just a picture but we will come back to this later.

The path takes us through Ramsgate where we are  up level with the roof tops & the view across the roof tops with the chimneys is like a scene out of Mary Poppins!  

Past the Toll gate

The Marina with it's expensive boats & the harbour with the fishing industry quietly going about the business.  Further on our route we pass the old Viking ship 'Hugin' a replica ship that sailed across from Denmark to Thannet in 1949 to celebrate to commemorate the 1,500 annivesery of the A.D.449 landing of the Anglo -Saxon chieftains. 

Onwards we go heading towards sandwich off from the sea front we have to walk along side the river Stour which leads us into Sandwich.

Route

The day's walking done we take another look around Sandwich before getting a train back to Broadstairs.

Back in Broadstairs it's time to visit Morelli's ice cream shop. Treating ourselves to a couple of small dishes we eat up & refill our energy sacks ready to continue our mission to walk around England.

In Broadstairs we find the house of Oliver Postgate the author & inventor of many children's tv shows including the Clangers.

Clangers

England Coast Path Part 13 Deal To Sandwich

Deal To Sandwich

Distance 09:80 Miles

Time 09:80:00 Miles

Elevation Gain 10:00 Feet

Starting our day by the sea café on the green where we had stopped the previous day its nice flat easy walking.

 With our childish sense of humour we thought it rather amusing that the Royal Mail have a delivery office in sandwich.

Walking was nice, good weather great scenery with lovely golden sandy beaches long flat promenades rough unmade roads are all part of this section.

Sandwich is located inland on the river Stour so we have to follow the banks of the river inland to get over it. 

However as we are finishing here for the day its coffee & cake time & we can commence our journey in the morning.

Deal pier 
Embracing the sea 

England Coast Path Part 12 Dover to Deal

Dover to Deal

Distance 9.41 Miles

Elevation Gain 898 Feet

Time 3:27 Hours

It's a Monday & we are back after a little winter hibernation, not from walking, just from the coast path as we have done many miles in our local area 

starting at Dover we are walking to Deal over the famous white cliffs of Dover under a grey overcast sky. 

Image courtesy of British Heritage 

Dover is a famous port linking the UK with Europe but for some reason it is in poor condition with rundown property in desperate need for financial input & repair.

 As we leave Dover along the promenade & up onto the cliff tops we can see Dover castle an English heritage property with the war tunnels stretching out into the cliffs below the castle. 

Dover Castle in the background

Heading up onto the white cliffs looking back we can see the port of dover with it's famous passenger ferry & haulage operations. There is a nature reserve with wild ponies who are always up to pose for a picture!

Onwards we go heading past the National trust tea rooms but we do not stop as it's too early in the day past some lovely cliff top houses.

Some very fancy architecture 

Dame Vera Lynn is famous for her wartime singing for the troops & the song,  The White Cliffs of Dover, she now has a road named after her which we walked down. Through Fan Bay with the fan bay deep shelter & Fan bay sound mirrors early warning defence for enemy aircraft basically giant dished concrete walls to catch & amplify the sound.

Now off the cliffs we continue along the stony pebbly beach along wellington parade heading to our destination for the day Deal, we stop by the sea café on the green but unfortunately it is closed.