Day 159 – Botany Bay to Sandwich: 12.9m: 4.7h

The breakfast is good and the team gets under way a few moments before 8am with only 20 yards to walk to get back on piste. The logger precision is blown by John forgetting to switch it on for 5 minutes so an adjustment has to be made. The weather is a bit cooler and after a mile or so on the cliff we descend to the beach and have a pleasant walk into Ramsgate partly on the sand and partly on the promenade. The beach is busy with dog walkers predominating. This may be due to some rule about when dogs are allowed on the beach – only up to 9am? We reach Ramsgate and admire the boats in the marina. John speculates that it would be nice to own a barge and then Helen, Oscar and he could spend their lives on the French canals. Helen makes clear that this will never be more than speculation.

Carine has not been able to join the walk due to having to pick the hops she has grown that have to be delivered to the brewery first thing. She rings to arrange to meet to say goodbye. After passing through the port we meet Carine and walk with her for a mile until we reach the Viking ship. This is a full sized replica commemorating their landing in Pegwell Bay in the 5^th century. A similar replica was sailed by 50 Danes to England in 1949.

We have a pleasant walk around Pegwell Bay which is also where St Augustine landed. Unfortunately, we then have a navigational issue. A permissive path is marked, but it fizzles out after 10 minutes with no obvious way forward. We retrace our steps and instead walk alongside a busy road. It then starts to rain. We walk on with Day 2 feet making their presence felt. Finally, we reach Sandwich and the Quay.

John then makes a further error by persuading the team to walk on a bit further, eschewing a number of attractive pubs, to reach the nearest point of the route to the station. We walk up to the station which proves to have no hostelries anywhere nearby. We end up walking back almost all the way to the Quayside. We do find a pub and have a pleasant hour eating baguettes before walking back to the station and getting the train. As usual John and Ben promptly fall asleep to round off the trip.

Day 158 – Herne Bay to Botany Bay: 15.4m: 5.3h

The team for the trip assemble at Herne Bay station. We have a team of five. As well as John, Ben and Mike, we welcome Carine, John’s cousin as a new participant and Helen is also joining the trip. Gary can’t come as he is attending the funeral of his mother-in-law after her sad death. Mike is pleased to be there after a stressful journey involving a cancelled train, the closure of King’s Cross Underground and the Victoria Line but manages to arrive in time none the less. Carine is carrying a towel as she hopes to have a swim en route!

We walk down to the promenade and Carine witnesses with some bewilderment the routine of establishing exactly where we finished last time so the logger will record our route with precision. The walking conditions are good with a slight tail wind if a little hot. But we have learnt from the Girl Guide training imparted by Cathy last time and have frozen water to cool us down.

The embankment looks in good order and we pass hundreds of beach huts, some open with elderly occupants enjoying the rays. The sea is very calm, but the scene is rather spoilt in places by an accumulation of some form of weed which has gathered up a quantity of flotsam and jetsam.

We reach Reculver which is notable for the ruins of St Mary’s Church standing on a small hill by the sea. The path continues along the never ending embankment. The walking  is easy and the team are finding the going ok fuelled by some excellent apple cake baked by Carine. We are now on the Isle of Thanet. This really was an island in Roman times but is now for all intents part of the mainland. The sea front alternates between stretches of very upmarket houses and some less so with little evidence of why parts have become more affluent than others.

Eventually we reach Margate. With the end if not in sight but at least coming up, the team decide on a refreshing pints of cider times two, lager, soda and diet coke. Then on we go. A split occurs with a mile to go. Carine and John walk along the beach, whilst the more mature members of the party take the cliff path. The split becomes a chasm as John and Carine strip off and go into the sea. Given they have just passed a nudist beach, for clarity, lest the reader interprets this literally, Carine dons a swimsuit and John retains his underpants. Apparently the sea is very warm. John and Carine are joined by Roxy and Dinks, Carine’s dog and partner, who have come to greet the arrivals. Again for clarity neither Roxy nor Dinks goes into the water. Eventually Roxy, Dinks, John and Carine walk up the cliff from the bay to the bar of the Botany Bay Hotel to join the rest. John has to change after being told in no uncertain terms by Ben that he can’t have his customary cider clad only in wet underpants and T-shirt.

Dinner is good. For the second successive trip, there is no fish and chips. However, there is an excellent fish stew which is washed down with an acceptable Shiraz, then a sticky and to bed.

Day 157 – Faversham to Herne Bay: 14.3m: 5.0h

Liverpool pulled a goal back last night, but United hung on for a 2-1 victory. We’re back in the Sun’s dining room at 7:15 for brekker which, as well as the usual full English, includes as choices delights such as locally smoked kipper, and avocado & bacon (which gets Cathy’s vote). The Sun has proved to be an excellent place to stay: comfortable rooms, very good food, and friendly and helpful staff. We leave shortly before 8:15 and get to our starting point at the brewery a few minutes later.

The first hour or so is spent walking back to the river along the meandering east side of Faversham Creek. From there it’s an uneventful and pretty straightforward route along – or very close to – the shoreline. We pass through Seasalter, cross a railway line, pause very briefly to witness some activity on Whitstable & Seasalter Golf Course, and arrive in Whitstable shortly after 11:30. It had been our intention to take advantage of the seafood on offer at Whitstable, but we are quickly persuaded to ditch this plan by a combination of the price of and advertised time taken to make crab sandwiches (£10 and at least 15 minutes respectively). Instead, we continue onwards past Tankerton Beach and a holiday park towards journey’s end at Herne Bay.

Although it's been a warm and sunny morning, passing clouds have offered periodic relief from the sun during the first 3 hours. However, the sky has been cloud free since we left Whitstable which perhaps precipitates the onset of  “thirst” in the team. Evidence of this could be found in Ben and Mike’s pace increasing as we approach Hampton, a place on the headland just before the western esplanade leading into Herne Bay. It can certainly be found in Cathy and Gary’s hopes (verging towards confidence in Cathy’s case) that the breakaway twosome would consider that a brief stop at the Hampton Inn might be called for. But those hopes are dashed. Without so much as a look behind them by way of enquiry, Ben and Mike walk past the pub and disappear round the headland. Disappointing.

And so, shortly after 1:15, we arrive at Herne Bay pier where observations are briefly exchanged on the Hampton Inn question. What quickly becomes of more importance are the observations that immediately opposite us is a bar and that the trains we’re aiming to catch don’t leave for another hour. John wonders whether he should go straight to the station to catch an earlier train, but takes less than 10 seconds to be persuaded that he needs a drink. We repair to the bar for just the one relaxed beer/cider and then walk slowly to the station. The Victoria train is due in 10 minutes, so John, Ben, Cathy and Gary go straight to the platform having first said farewell to Mike. His train to St Pancras leaves 20 minutes later and there is a pub outside the station. A very convenient waiting room!