After Herne Bay the next station is at Birchington which is quite a distance from Whitstable, and I don’t really have time to get there today. So, I’m going to break it down into smaller stages!
I’m back at Whitstable harbour which is both a working harbour and a touristy place. There are a lot of ‘artisan’ type businesses around the harbour catering for visitors, and an industrial plant on the north-east side.
The road through the industrial area is very short and brings me out here…
The walk ahead looks like this…
I pass a shed-load of beach huts as I head into Tankerton Bay…
Tankerton is a suburb of Whitstable and is known for its beach huts and its slopes. The slopes run down from the road to the beach and are designated a site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSI, being home to rare plants and moths. With my usual keen naturalist’s instinct I spot…well, just a bunch of bushes really…
At the far end of the bay is a very small headland called Long Rock, although it seems to be more shingle bank than rock! It is clearly popular with bird-watchers as there are a bunch of people with huge cameras mounted on tripods!
Past Long Rock is the section between Whitstable and Herne Bay. It’s another small bay, and a nice easy walk as the concrete esplanade continues all the way between the two towns. In the distance can be seen the suburb of Hampton on the outskirts of Herne Bay…
After only twenty minutes I reach Hampton where I pass a small jetty called, a bit grandly I thought, Hampton Pier…
The path passes behind some beach huts (these things are bloody popular round here!) …
…before coming out onto the main seafront of Herne Bay…
Out to sea can be seen the original end of Herne Bay pier…
According to the handy information board the pier seems to have had a bit of a chequered history…
Today the pier is a bit short but seems to be well kept and vibrant with lots of little shops and cafes…
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