Almost all of today’s coastal walk will be along cliffs, so once again Ben will be taking an inland route with Gary for (alleged) company. The Parkdean has certainly exceeded expectations, but it doesn’t serve breakfast until 9 o’clock. The four of us are therefore making an early start, and aiming for a breakfast rendezvous around 8:30 in Dover which is about 4 miles away. For John and Mike, early means 6:30. However, they first need to return to St Margaret’s Bay so Ben and Gary (whose route starts immediately outside the holiday park) feel that they can delay their departure time until 7 o’clock. Both sub-teams leave on schedule and so are able to witness a beautiful sunrise at exactly 7:11. (We spent several minutes at the Smugglers last night establishing that this was probably one of the joint earliest sunrise times in the country today.) The French coastline is also clearly visible. Indeed, as was the case yesterday afternoon, John and Mike are sufficiently close to France that the clocks on their phones move forward an hour and Mike receives a message from his service provider informing him of conditions of continental data use.
The first couple of miles of the inland route take Ben and Gary directly westward along a minor road/cycle path which fortunately isn’t very busy. It goes past Swingate Down (which was used by the Royal Flying Corps at the start of WW1 as its final landing ground prior to crossing over to France) before reaching a point which gives views of Dover Castle to the right and Dover Ferry Terminal to the left. Also to the left, the cycle path leaves the road initially in the direction of a Coastguard Station but then, it would appear, down into Dover itself. Given that this is towards the Dover side of the National Trust entrance to the White Cliffs, it’s a reasonably safe bet that following the cycle path will involve no cliff tops, and so it proves. The path zigzags gently down the hillside and eventually goes under the elevated main road into the ferry terminal to reach a narrow lane which leads into the town and, at a junction with the Marine Parade, a Premier Inn. It is quickly determined that this provides an “unlimited cooked breakfast” for £9.50 and this news is immediately communicated to John and Mike. From messages exchanged earlier in the morning, it is assumed by Ben and Gary that the cliff duo’s arrival will not be long delayed, but it transpires that they have encountered a few problems finding a route from the cliffs into Dover. These have included narrow paths at the edge of steep drops, signs warning of danger and closures ahead, attempts to navigate areas covered in briar, and reaching a point very close to the elevated ferry terminal road where the path has come to an end with no route under, over or across the road. They eventually join Ben and Gary at the Premier Inn around 8:40 and we settle down for a relaxed breakfast.
But although the breakfast is relaxed, it’s clear that the navigational problems which John and Mike have just faced were anything but. For example, their attempts to get through or around the briar have resulted in one or two scratches and also in the briar effectively pulling open John’s rucksack. Indeed, as we prepare to leave, John discovers that his jacket is no longer in the rucksack. After a few minutes thought, he decides against retracing his steps in an attempt to find it, and we set off for our next and final rendezvous point today, the bandstand in Folkestone. John and Mike haven’t been deterred from continuing along the cliff top, whereas Ben and Gary walk along a couple of streets, past Dover Priory station and then, via a narrow residential lane, to a long and steep path which takes them into some fields and woods above the north west edge of the town. There are hardly any direction signposts but, on a track through the very aptly named Long Wood, reassurance is given by a couple walking in the other direction that “civilisation” will soon emerge in the form of a field with the village of West Hougham on the other side. From there, it’s just under 5 miles to Folkestone via Capel-le-Ferne and a brief stop shortly after Capel-le-Ferne at the Battle of Britain Memorial.
The road down into Folkestone leads to the harbour, and thankfully it transpires that John and Mike have encountered no further problems and are only 5 or 10 minutes away. Ben and Gary resist the temptation to wait for them in the Harbour Inn and instead continue along the sea front, past a non-operational funicular to a small amphitheatre in Lower Leas Gardens where a zigzag path leads up to the bandstand on the road above the gardens. John and Mike duly emerge from the zigzag path a few minutes later. It’s almost 1:15 and our intended train back to London doesn’t leave until 3 o’clock. However, we decide to get the 20 minute walk to Folkestone Central out of the way before finding a pub, and fortunately not much searching is required. Almost opposite the station is the Park Inn where John initially spends almost as much time considering whether to take an earlier train as he spent in Dover considering the jacket retrieval question. Once again the decision is no, and we have a couple of refreshing pints and packets of crisps before purchasing sandwiches from the nearby Co-op (or in John’s case from the station) and then catching the train to St Pancras.
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