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!
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