Weather: fine
Distance: 24.0 km ( 14.9 miles)
Total Distance: 2014.7 miles
I made an early start by my standards from the Youth
Hostel and was walking by 9 o’clock. I
was able to park the car pretty close to the centre of town because it was a Sunday. I went to the sea front, the busy dual
carriageway and towards the ferry terminals.
A small path led under the main road out of Dover and up onto the
cliffs. This first part of this walk was
excellent. It was great to get back to some cliff top walking. Bird-watchers were hanging over the side of
the cliffs trying to catch glimpses of their favorite bird.
St Margaret’s at Cliff appeared a very attractive village. A steep path led down onto
the beach. To begin with I was
suspicious that there was no way off apart from the way I had come down but
there was a steep path to the east - just past the toilets! I stopped on the beach and had a snack in the
cafe whilst looking at the local dog patrol turn up and offer help to a lady
who had evidently lost her pet.
The cliffs got lower and led to a track
and Kingsdown and eventually Deal. Just
before I got to Deal I had a mission to complete - to take a couple of pictures
of Walmer Castle for my Dad who was writing an article on its history or more
likely someone famous who had lived there.
I was disappointed with Deal itself, it
lacked any presence. I stopped in a cafe
on the sea-front which also lacked most things including customers. I could not understand why there were taking
in the tables and chairs at midday on a Sunday.
They assured me they were not closing - I guess it was to scare away
anyone but the most intrepid tea drinker.
Deal sea front is strewn with fishing boats and their assorted accessories. I seem to recall a piece on TV telling about
trying to smarten up Deal beach and have the boats moved on.
The rest of the walk was a bit of a
trek to be honest, along two or three golf courses, one of which was Royal St
George’s. I was expecting high security
and lush fairways and greens behind fences but if was far from that. I followed another young man for much of this
stretch - I’ve no idea why he was walking in such dull surroundings.
Some of this path / track was tough walking
because of the stones on the track.
There was no path marked beyond a certain point and the golf course was
looking more and more private, so I cut up to Sandwich on the marked path,
keeping my head down when crossing the fairways. The last bit into Sandwich was through a farm
and then along the banks of a river - very nice.
Once in Sandwich I headed through the suburbs
up to the very quiet station. The lack
of a time table did not inspire me with confidence that a train would ever turn
up. The station did gradually fill up
and an odd couple where the man was dropping off his acquaintance to go back to
London imposed themselves on my personal space.
Eventually a train did turn up after about 45 minutes. I was glad to get back to Dover and stroll
back into the town and to my car.
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