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.
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