9 miles walked today
567 miles walked in total
(average 12.32)
After breakfast at the Rose and Crown in Elham,
Vicky and I started walking at about ten o’clock. We were on footpaths immediately alongside
the beach and then up on to the cliffs at Kingsdown, where the white cliffs
start. I’ve never seen anyone climb a
hill as fast as Vicky and I was soon put to shame by her striding ahead,
leaving me lagging behind.
I had already reminded Vicky to look out for
bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover,
but the nearest we saw was the Bluebirds Café up by the Dover Patrol
Memorial. Just past the Memorial on top
of the cliffs, the path turned into a lane which descended into St Margaret’s
Bay, where the tide was crashing against the sea wall. We climbed back up the lanes to a tea room
which was covered in pictures of Noel Coward.
It was then that I remembered vaguely that I’d read in one of Sam’s
books that he lived on this stretch of coast.
We’d practically walked past his house and had missed it. Vicky and I decided that Sam had been very
remiss in not reminding me to look out for the house. My guide book had failed to mention it too,
so Sam had failed in her duty to tell the authors also.
St Margaret’s Bay is the nearest point to France, being
only twenty-one miles distant, and is traditionally the start/ finish point for
cross Channel swimmers. I had already
ascertained how near we were to France
though as my ‘phone had transferred to a French mobile ‘phone network!
A short distance along the cliffs we found the
South Foreland lighthouse. There were
lots of people around and it was good to see so many people using the
footpaths. Coming into Dover, we stumbled on a group of people
wearing badges inscribed with their name and UNE. We spent a while trying to work out what UNE
stood for, before I gave up and asked Jean – apparently they were all from the
University of New England in Australia and were on a bit of a jaunt to catch
the sights.
From the cliffs, the Port of Dover
looked very small, but very well organised, with orderly queues being formed
and lots of ships entering and leaving the harbour. The path meandered vaguely into Dover and we were soon
into the town centre trying to find the station.
It’s been a great weekend – we’ve hardly needed to
use the roads at all and it’s good to be on proper footpaths. The weather’s been good too, sunny on
Saturday and mild today, although we needed our waterproofs for just an hour at
the end of the day.
Vicky has said that she’s going to give walking a
bit of a rest and will only consider coming again when I’ve got past Brighton and we’re back onto level surfaces again. Unfortunately, I can feel a few hills coming
on!
