Walk 23. Birchington to Broadstairs

 So, after a short break for unpleasant weather and Christmas, here is the next exciting instalment of the Kent Coast Walk!

Starting back at Birchington I head along the sea wall at the base of the low chalk cliff…

After a couple of minutes I pass a derelict building half way up the cliff. I wonder what it was used for as it doesn’t look like an old pillbox or other military installation, but it’s a weird place to have a house.

Soon I round a headland into the very small Epple Bay. As I quickly discover, traversing small bays will be a big feature of today’s walk!

On the far side of the bay, where the chalk begins again, there is no way round the base of the cliff. Maybe it’s accessible at low tide, but for now I climb the stairs and continue along the cliff top road into Westgate Bay.

Westgate Bay has a prom to walk along, beach huts and a nice-looking cafe…

…but is soon left behind as I round another small headland into St Mildred’s Bay. This offers much the same amenities as the previous bay and again, doesn’t take long to walk through.

Round the next headland and I’m now approaching the famous old seaside resort of Margate.

I approach the town along the prom at Westbrook Bay, which forms the western half of Margate bay. The other half is just called The Bay!

Coming into Margate itself I pass some houses with a real ‘sea view’…

…some funky-looking cafes, one of which is in a double decker bus…

…and a Herne Bay rivalling(?) clock tower…

Just across the road is the iconic Dreamland. Once the home of theme park rides, a ballroom, cinema, and various other attractions, Dreamland has closed and been rescued several times over the last couple of decades and is now a shadow of its former self…

Margate is a bit strange, a mixture of utter dereliction and decay interspersed with new investment. It seems to have ambitions of being the Brighton of Kent, but with a more arty flavour!

Talking of art, as I pass the jetty…

…I come to a significant investment in art…

The Turner Contemporary is free to enter and apparently has quite an impressive collection. I didn’t go in myself, partly because I didn’t really have time, but mostly because I’m an uncultured lout…

Anyway. Moving on. A few minutes later I pass some decay! A large concrete structure covered in graffiti which may have once been a beach-side lido.

From here I continue along the sea wall through Walpole Bay…

About fifteen minutes brings me to Palm Bay. Here I run out of wall and have to continue along the sand, which is nice and all but does require more effort!

At the far end of Palm Bay lies Foreness Point. The shoreline here is blocked by some sort of water company installation so I head up the path to the cliff top.

Up on top, I walk along the low cliff to Botany Bay (no, not that one…) where there is a cool chalk stack!

Continuing along the cliff top to the headland between Botany Bay and Kingsgate Bay I find an 18th Century folly built in the style of a Henry VIII fort…

Heading into Kingsgate Bay there is a great view of Kingsgate Castle on the far side of the bay. Another 18th Century building, this is now divided into, presumably expensive, flats.

Through Kingsgate the path follows a short detour away from the coastline, and follows the road down into Joss Bay where it heads back onto the cliffs along the side of a cabbage field. This is the most easterly point in Kent and is marked by a lighthouse up the hill…

The path continues in front of some pricey-looking houses…

…before being blocked by private land again. I take another, slightly longer, diversion inland along the road towards Broadstairs. On the outskirts of the town the coast path dives down an alley and emerges onto the beach at Stone Bay.

I’m now just a short walk from Broadstairs pier/jetty where I’m finishing today’s walk. I pass Bleak House where Charles Dickens came to write in the 1840s and 1850s, and is today a Dickens museum I believe. Its hard to tell from down below but I think it is this building…

So here I am at the end of today’s bay-tastic walk. I’ll leave you with a couple of photos of the pier area…