Log No 318. Sun 18th May 2014 - St Nicholas at Wade to Faversham, 20 miles (4891 miles walked)

There is no escaping the daylight when I'm in the tent and I continued writing yesterdays log at 04.30, it was a beautiful clear morning.

I left the campsite at St Nicholas at Wade at 07.20 taking the minor road over the A299 and then onto footpaths back to the coast at Reculver.

I met Adam & Liz near Reculver out walking their dogs and Liz was telling me how Adam introduced her to the pleasures of camping, after only having stayed in hotels for her holidays Adam took her on a wild camp with no facilities!

The prominent feature at Reculver is the ruins of St Mary's Church on a small hill by the shore.

I followed the cycleway along the coast to Herne Bay and then dropped down onto the promenade.

The tide was well out revealing a wide flat area of sand & mud at the base of a stony foreshore which sloped quite steeply down for a short distance from the land.

Herne Bay had a very long pier at one time, the original end of the pier still standing away out from the shore.

The Saxon Shore Way continued along the sea front and went right by the Holiday Park I was going to be camping at tonight.

It was only 10.30 and I hoped I could pitch the tent early and then carry on walking with a very small pack. It was a bit too early as all the tent pitches were still occupied but I was able to leave the rucsac in the reception so that was fine. With no fear of any rain today I just took a bum bag for food and drinks.

It was very easy going now and I marched along.

With the high tide still 4 hours away it looked like the sailing club had a long wait ahead.

There were plenty of folk in the sea but nobody could swim in it, the land was that flat you had had to go very long distance out to find deep water.

The harbour at Whitstable was very popular with an array of stalls it was just like a market place.

The big attraction here seemed to be oysters with lots of places selling them.

Coming out of Whitstable the Saxon Shore Way followed the road until it turned inland so then the footpath went on top of the embankment at the shore.

I had to walk back south again right into Faversham to get round a creek. This is were I was finishing for the day and I could get a train back to near the campsite. There was also a handy Tescos so I had hardly distance to carry the extra weight.

It had been another good 20 miles, easy walking in glorious sunshine.