Log No 317. Sat 17th May 2014 - Sandwich to St Nicholas at Wade, 22 miles (4871 miles walked)

I had a more relaxed start this morning as my train back to Sandwich was at 08.15, I would have preferred to catch the one an hour earlier but that would have been too much of a rush.

It only took the train 10 minutes to get to Sandwich and from there I crossed over the River Stour then took the minor road north to Great Stonar and then the cycleway alongside the A256 to Cliff End and Pegwell Bay.


The River Stour flows east to get out at Pegwell Bay but with the land around being so very flat the river actually loops south into Sandwich and
at one point is only a road's width away from itself. At this point there is a channel dug, the Stonar Cut, to short circuit the loop but it normally shut off with a sluice gate.

There was no blue sky this morning, it was all high cloud but looking out to sea there appeared to be a sandy coloured fog bank away out in the distance.

Pegwell Bay was the traditional landing place of the Saxons in the year 449 and also where St Augustine, came ashore in 597.

Back on the coast the footpath followed the low clifftop round the bay into Ramsgate.

The stony foreshore has been left behind on the south coast and all the beaches are now sandy.

There was a walkway down at the bottom of the cliffs but not being sure if it didn't suddenly stop I stayed on the top.

By midday the clouds had just about burned away and with very little wind it was turning into a hot day for walking with a full pack.

The beaches were filling up and some of the many beach huts were in use.

I was still walking north following the Viking Trail but after Kingsgate Bay the coast started to turn and at Foreland Point I was now walking west to begin the long trek into London.

The beaches at Margate were very popular, it doesn't seem that long ago when it was wet and windy and all I saw was dog walkers, now there are children paddling in the sea.

There were also small tea and drink parties going on outside some of the beach huts.

Leaving the busier part of Margate the route seemed to indicate I could continue along the lower walkway but after a bit it appeared to be coming to a dead end, a cyclist sat on the wall said he had been unable to go any further and had stopped for a beer.

I turned around to walk back then met Chris striding along, I said to him I didn't think he could get much further if he was hoping to continue in the same direction.
He said he was sure there was a way up the low cliffs, admittedly I hadn't gone right to the very end so I turned around again and walked with Chris as we walked past the cyclist just to find there was definitely no way up. Ah well, we had a pleasant chat.

It was after 3 o'clock and I still had a good couple of hours to go, the campsite was inland a bit so I decided to save some time by taking a more direct line to the site by using the main road. This was a busy road but fortunately there was a cycle path alongside and I got to the campsite at 17.15.

Another walk today of 22 miles but the later finish and the fact that I had sandwiches to make up meant it was near to 8 o'clock before I finished my tea.

I had dropped off while writing the log and woke to find it was 10.30pm, I was too tired to continue writing so it would be a very early start in the morning to complete it.