Walk 30. Lydd-On-Sea to Jury’s Gap

 Today I start at the Pilot pub which is again full of people eating fish and chips. 

I head south along a small road towards Dungeness point…

There are several, mostly wooden, one-story houses scattered about. They look like they should be holiday cottages, but most look like they are actually lived in. The film director Derek Jarman famously lived in this one, which was being photographed by several people!

Shortly after, I arrive at the lighthouses. Dungeness has two. The ‘Old Lighthouse’ was opened in 1904, but the building of the nuclear power station in the 1960s obscured the light and a new one had to be built a bit closer to the sea! The old one is now a visitor attraction and the view from the top is said to be well worth the climb!

The new lighthouse…

And the old lighthouse…

Beside the old lighthouse is the terminus of the Romney, Hythe And Dymchurch railway which runs passenger trains pulled by small steam locomotives. I’ve heard these trains tooting a couple of times during my last couple of walks but still haven’t actually seen one!

From here I head round the power stations. Dungeness has two of these as well! One is from the 1960s and the other is from the 80s. Both are now decommissioned but the massive buildings remain.

Arriving at the beach, I find a tall bank of shingle that gives a good view back at Dungeness…

…the power station…

…and the way ahead…

I drop down onto the concrete as it is much easier on the legs!

The path soon finishes, but at least there is still this narrow bit beside the fence to walk on…

At this point I climb the shingle bank to record the southernmost point of Kent. As usual with these things, it is a bit hard to pinpoint exactly where it is! I reckon it is somewhere between this hut and the previous one. The bank is very tall and steep all alongside the power station, and is continually rebuilt to protect the buildings from the sea…

The wider path returns for the final bit past the power station and then it’s onto the shingle…

I try walking on the area to the right with the patchy plant cover but it isn’t really any easier, so I give up and just plod along the pebbles.

After half a mile or so, I come to the Lydd Ranges. This army firing range covers a huge area and the England Coast Path detours inland for several miles to by-pass it. However, if it is a ‘no-fire’ day you can safely walk along the beach. If you plan to do this the timetable is posted online, but most importantly do not attempt it if there is a red flag flying!

I particularly wanted to take the beach route partly because this is supposed to be a coastal walk, but mostly because the Kent boarder reaches the sea about three-quarters of the way through the range. Yes, my finish line, the goal that I set myself when I started this project!

This is the boundary of the Lydd Ranges with the ECP heading inland…

And the view ahead…

So off I set. Surprisingly there are no fences to stop you from just wandering onto the firing ranges! I suppose the fact that the army doesn’t feel the need to put any up tells you how often anyone is stupid enough to walk along here! I see no-one the whole way. It is desolate and deserted, the only sign of life being sea-birds.

I am walking into quite a strong wind and the waves are crashing onto the shingle beach all the way.

And that is all there is. For three miles! I don’t seem to be making any progress because the only thing in view is the power station, and the buildings are so big that they don’t appear to get any smaller when I turn round to look at them! So I keep plodding on.

And on.

Two hours later I’m still going when I spot something. It looks like the army have built a bit of an access road just behind the beach. Hurray! I can use that! 

A couple of minutes on the road and I have done it! The Kent border. I’ve walked all round the coastline of Kent. Shame there is no actual sign…

However, I can’t celebrate just yet. I’ve still got to get off this firing range!

I walk along this dead-straight path for another twenty minutes until I, at last, reach the far end of the range. There is a locked gate in the way. Why is it locked? I can see the point of locking it when live firing is happening, but today…? It doesn’t even keep the public out because you can just walk round it! When the tide goes out a bit further you can just by-pass the gate by strolling along the sand!

So I head to the left of the lookout building and step across the granite blocks…

…and climb over the low wall on the other side…

I feel like I’ve just escaped from somewhere!

Now I just have a ten minute walk along the sea-wall to the car park at Broomhill Sands.

I’ve walked 220 miles around the Kent coast from Dartford to Jury’s Gap. In all, including walking to and from the car, train stations, bus stops etc, I’ve walked 282 miles.

So there we are. Finished.

Or maybe not. East Sussex looks fun so stay tuned folks!

Walk 29. Dymchurch to Lydd-On-Sea

 Today I start at the Martello Tower that I stopped at last time. It’s now covered in scaffolding and I wonder what is being done to it. Unlikely to be a conversion to a private house as it is sat in the middle of a car park! Maybe just renovation, then…

The tide is in today and splashing up against the prom…

The view ahead looks like this. The large buildings of Dungeness Power Station can easily be seen in the distance, and my finish point is just short of there.

A few minutes later I walk through the village of St Mary’s Bay. Strangely though, the prom and sea wall continue uninterrupted and there appear to be no ‘seaside’ amenities here at all. It’s hard enough to see any houses let alone a chip shop or arcade!

South of St Mary’s the path narrows and passes yet another golf course…

Approaching Littlestone-on-Sea I pass a derelict hotel. Apparently it has recently been bought by new owners who plan to restore and reopen it, which is good news as the location is excellent!

Also on the outskirts of Littlestone is this interesting Victorian water tower which has been converted into a private residence. Imagine living here…

Just off the coast of Littlestone is a Phoenix Caisson. A what now (do I hear you ask)? Well, these were large concrete ‘pre-fab’ sections of the Mulberry Harbour that was towed across the channel on D-Day. Ironically, given all the many events commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day that are happening as I am doing today’s walk, I can’t actually see it as the tide is too high!

Leaving Littlestone, the prom finally runs out and the path heads off into an area of shingle dunes…

A short while later the path just sort of fades away, so I head down to the sand as it looks easier to walk on than the pebbles!

It turns out that even the damp sand is much softer than expected, but I keep plodding along as it is a more interesting option than the road! Eventually the beach ahead seems to be turning pebbly and the OS map shows the coastal path following the road. As I join the road I pass a sign welcoming me to Dungeness National Nature Reserve.

Dungeness is a very strange place. Technically it is England’s only desert, and forms a unique wildlife habitat. It is flat and bleak, with a large expanse of pebbles and patches of low, scrubby plants! The shingle extends quite a way inland where there are lakes and nature reserves, and a couple of ‘sound mirrors’. These look like big, concrete satellite dishes and were an early 1930s experiment to detect hostile aircraft. Apparently they sort of worked, but fortunately were made redundant by the invention of radar by the time WW2 started!

I continue along the road for about forty minutes and reach my destination for today, The Pilot pub. There are houses all along the landward side and the shingle beach all along the other!

Along the way I pause to take the traditional ‘arty’ photo of boats on the beach…

So that’s about it for today. I now only have one more walk to finish the Kent coast, which will take me around the headland of Dungeness and up to Jury’s Gap!