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The love of walking

Posted in around the UK, conqueror challenges, england coast path, Fun Stuff, Health, long distance walks - solo, memories of days gone by, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2020, walks around the UK, tagged for the love of walking, long distance walking, walk1000miles, walking solo, walking the English coast on December 5, 2020| 14 Comments »

I’ve had some amazing walks the last few years since moving to the east coast. The scenery along the Thanet coastline is really beautiful, especially at sunrise on a clear day, and then sunset. You can catch a gorgeous sunrise from Broadstairs or Ramsgate, and if it’s a good day, an equally gorgeous sunset from Pegwell Bay or Margate. I’ve been known to rush over to Margate to catch the sunset or a quick walk to the cliffs above Pegwell Bay.

I’ve always loved walking. As a young girl, in my 20s’ when I lived in Hillbrow Johannesburg, I used to spend the whole of Sundays just walking around the suburbs for hours on end. I used to walk to work every day, up the hill and down the other side….right up until I was 8 months pregnant, and then my boss wouldn’t allow me to walk anymore and insisted one of the staff take me home by car and collect me the next day.

I lost my walking after my daughter was born and my husband bought me a car. By then it wasn’t that safe to walk alone anyway and I got lazy.

When I arrived in the UK, my love of walking was reignited. I lived in Dublin, Rep. Of Ireland for 6 months and my sister, brother-in-law and I used to walk everywhere, especially on weekends when we’d head out to Dún Laoghaire or Glendalough and the Wicklow mountains. In fact we travelled to so many places, I’ve quite forgotten all but the most memorable. I do remember though being able to walk home from Dublin to Monkstown late at night and never feel unsafe….and my love walking, freedom really, was reborn.

I remember one weekend when we walked across country from Waterford city to PassageEast in the County of Waterford, took the ferry across the River Barrow to Ballyhack Lower in County Wexford, then walked to Arthurstown and onto Duncannon…and in reverse the next day. One of the many fun excursions from my 6 months there.

A walk across country in Rep. Of Ireland

On most of my overseas trips since, I’ve invariably planned a 10 day stay and walked….everywhere, and included a day trip to another destination. When I visited Venice I literally walked around all the accessible islands and usually started at 8am and walked till late at night exploring every nook and cranny. Actually, after Ireland, Venice was my very first trip to Europe and albeit terrified, I loved every minute.

I’ve since walked 80%+ of the streets in the City of London….much of my free time was spent exploring every court, lane and street, and I walked a fair amount of the City of Westminster too. When we still lived in Richmond, I often walked along the Thames riverbank, either downstream to Kew Gardens or upstream to Kingston and even Hampton Court. Even in the snow 😉

When we moved to Broadstairs we used to walk along the beach to Ramsgate. I always thought it was quite far, but its actually only just over 3kms. Now that I frequently walk in excess of 20kms and occasionally as much as 35kms, it seems absurd that I thought 3kms was far 😁😁

During my last stay, I walked along the beach from Ramsgate to Stone Bay and back, and one morning I enjoyed a sunrise walk to Viking Bay…of course I stopped off at The Old Bake House and bought a take-away coffee and my favourite pastry; an almond croissant then sat on a bench on the promenade to enjoy my treat.

Breakfast from The Old Bake House in Broadstairs

Its such a stunning section of the coast and offers much of interest to see. Stretch your legs and walk to Margate… fantastic route, especially along the beach.

A few weeks ago I decided to walk to Sandwich (for the 3rd time) in order to increase my mileage for the Conqueror 2020 Challenge. Somewhere along the way I hatched the insane idea of walking the whole of the English coastline….I know…bring on the strait jacket. I blame it on the moon 🤭🤭🤭 I’ve walked as far as Dover so far. Of course Covid-19 has held back my horizons, but I’m hoping to get out more frequently in 2021.

I love walking and one of the benefits of my job is that I get to travel all over England, often times to places I’d never heard of…and then I walk…

But my walking got a real sense of seriousness when I started training for the Portuguese Camino in 2017, and started following the #walk1000miles challenge in 2016. That really got me going. I struggled at first to get into walking daily, bought my first pair of walking poles (still have them 😄), a decent pair of walking shoes (asics) and I’ve never looked back, now I find it difficult to not get out for a walk on a daily basis and get quite tetchy if my walking is interrupted ….😉

Stunning coastline between Deal and Walmer.

Show me a path and I’ll walk it….

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Saxon Shore Way – Kent

Posted in around the UK, england coast path, Fun Stuff, Historical, It's my life, long distance walks - solo, seaside towns of Britain, tagged long distance walking, long distance walks in england, saxon shore way, st Augustine's way on December 4, 2020| 5 Comments »

Oh my goddess I’ve found a new long distance walk to do!! 😃😃😃 I was doing some research on distances between towns for my ongoing quest to walk the whole England coast over the next 5 years (I blame it on the moon) and found the whole route for the Saxon Shore Way.

I’ve touched on the route during some of my previous excursions, but I didn’t realise just how long it was and how far it extended. Sigh..you just know I’m going to have to walk it 😂😂😂

The 160 mile / 257 km route starts in Gravesend on the banks of the River Thames in North Kent and ends in the colourful seaside town of Hastings in East Sussex. The route goes inland somewhere near Reculver and bypasses Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate and again from Folkestone to Rye/Camber but the rest of the route offers some of the finest coastal walking in England.

The reason the route bypasses Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate is due to the fact that they’re all on what was, and is still referred to as the Isle of Thanet, which used to be separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel up until 1550, by which time the river had silted up and was no longer navigable. And of course the Saxons were here from mid 5th century, so the route they created would have followed the then mainland coast.

According to wikipedia: The River Wantsum is a tributary of the River Stour, in Kent, England. Formerly, the River Wantsum and the River Stour together formed the Wantsum Channel, which separated the Isle of Thanet from the mainland of Kent. Now the River Wantsum is little more than a drainage ditch starting at Reculver, and ending where it joins the Stour.

I’ve walked small sections of the Saxon Shore Way when I followed Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales route to Canterbury via Sittingbourne and Faversham, again when I followed St Augustine’s Way from Ramsgate to Canterbury and again more recently when I walked from Sandwich to Dover.

I’m gonna have to stop working so I can do all these walks 🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🤭🤭

The header image is of Gravesend on the Thames from when I walked Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales from Southwark Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral…my very first long-distance walks, along which I learned some really good lessons – like to never walk in wet socks 🤪🤪👣🧦👣🧦

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Conqueror Challenge November

Posted in around the UK, conqueror challenges, england coast path, Fun Stuff, Health, It's my life, long distance walks - solo, walk 1000 miles 2020, tagged conqueror virtual challenges, English coastal path, long distance walking, walk1000miles, walking 2020 on December 3, 2020| 2 Comments »

274kms for November 😁😁😁 48 kms more than October. Getting closer to my target of 2020km, but the days are rapidly declining …with only 29 days left this year and 317.9kms to go….and as they frequently remind me…I have to up my game. 😉

But I have achieved my original goal of 1600kms/1000 miles. Hoorah 👏👏🚶🏻‍♀️

Places I’ve walked in November:

Ramsgate to Pegwell Bay / Sandwich Bay Nature Reserve

As for December….my kms will have to be a final push of 317.9kms to reach my target….so, I’m guessing the week between Christmas and Old Year’s Eve when I’m off work, will see lots of sunrise walks and full day marching along the east coast of England 😂😂😂🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️

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Following Public Footpaths

Posted in around the UK, cities and towns of the UK, It's my life, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2020, tagged exploring the UK, Shepton Mallet, walk1000miles, walking on December 2, 2020| 2 Comments »

Since I’d already explored the greater part of Shepton Mallet in the previous 2 days, yesterday I decided to follow the public footpaths – it took me on quite an adventure.

I eventually ended up on the Fosseway before heading back into town to see the Christmas lights. Some of the windows look so pretty.

I sent the pic of the owl to my daughter to show my grandson – apparently he responded with “oooooooo” 🦉😃😃

There’s a delightful cafe in the High Street called Madhatter’s – I love the decor. Next time I go past, if the cafe is open I may just treat myself.

So, despite having pretty much covered the whole town on the first day, I’m still managing to create some news routes…it’ll be interesting when I finish here on 12th, to look at all my excursions on mapmywalk and see just exactly where I’ve been.

Sometimes I think the farmers just make it difficult for their enjoyment 🤪🤪 I did however manage to get over that

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Exploring further afield

Posted in around the UK, cities and towns of the UK, conqueror challenges, It's my life, walk 1000 miles 2020, tagged conqueror virtual challenges, domesday book town, exploring the towns of England, Shepton Mallet, walk1000miles on December 2, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Had a good 6.8km walk yesterday afternoon – took a slightly different route and ended up at the viaduct again but still haven’t found the lake that shows up on Google maps. Although I did see a small lake near a business park complex and a duck pond in Collette Park.

From the viaduct I went off in a different direction across a couple of fields and finally back to the main road, through Collette Park and down the High Street, then up onto the hill in time for the sunset and finally followed last nights path in reverse and back to the house.

Last night’s path – on my left behind the fence are the manor house grounds

Did some slip sliding on the muddy paths on the hill, but managed to not fall on either my face or my derrier.

The path across the hill takes you beneath what must have been a railway bridge before the 1960s purge of railway lines, its really dark and foreboding, especially in the waning light of night time – I just love it, looks so spooky.

Before setting off across the fields I visited the Kilver Court Designer Village. They have some really lovely items, and I’m glad my debit card was at the house 😁😁😁

Kilver Court Designer Village on my way back

In all a really good walk and I’m getting closer to my target for 2020 and making good progress along the virtual Great Ocean Road in Australia. Unfortunately the organisers of the Conqueror virtual challenges haven’t done any virtual postcards yet for this particular route, but I hope to receive them when they are ready.

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More about pilgrimage

Posted in around the UK, Interesting articles, long distance walks - solo, Travel, tagged Camino de Santiago, going on pilgrimage, pilgrimage routes in the uk, the Pilgrim's Way on November 29, 2020| 3 Comments »

I follow The Pilgrim’s Trust on Instagram and reading through their current posts I came across these two links that you may enjoy reading:

1. BBC Travel and pilgrimage – I didn’t realise that the Camino de Santiago was only recently given a boost by Franco.

2. 10 Pilgrimages you might enjoy walking – I found this article to be of great interest due to my love of ‘going on pilgrimage’.

Its amazing just how many pilgrimage routes there are in the UK and they haven’t even mentioned St Cuthbert’s Way, St Augustine’s Way and The Two Saints Way.

Have you walked any of these pilgrimage routes? Which was your favourite?

Follow The Pilgrim’s Trust on Instagram

I’ve started a new Instagram profile @overthehillstilltravelling for my travels if you’d like to follow. Give me a 👋👋 if you do….it’s relatively new, but I’m adding images as I go..

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Last sunrise walk for 2 weeks

Posted in around the UK, cities and towns of the UK, conqueror challenges, Domesday Villages of England, gratitude, Health, It's my life, long distance walks - solo, photography, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2020, tagged #plasticpollution, conqueror virtual challenges, long distance walking, sunrise at the coast, walking the English coast, walks in england on November 28, 2020| Leave a Comment »

So thankfully I start a new assignment today. I was beginning to panic just a bit.

But the agency finally came through and I’m on my way to Somerset to a town called Shepton-Malett, which to my delight is a Domesday Book town.

I’m looking forward to exploring 😃😃

Unfortunately it means that I can’t get out for sunrise walks for the next 2 weeks, so I made sure I got out this morning….and it was stunning. A gorgeous day for walking with clear skies and mild temperatures.

Stunning colours reflecting on the waves

I walked as far as Dumpton Gap and back to the harbour chasing the incoming tide.

As with yesterday’s walk I collected 6 big pieces of trash that would otherwise have ended up in the ocean.

Besides these, I picked up a big plastic container and 2 other water bottles

I’m going to have to get back to carrying bags and gloves with me again…there was so much more I could have picked up but no means of carrying the stuff 😔😔😔

I was also attacked by a bloody dog again that despite the owner trying to grab the damn thing, jumped up and tried to get to my face. It took the owner a good few minutes to get the dog on a leash. My verbal commentary was not very polite. I truly wish people who own dogs would just train the damn animals. Thankfully it was a spaniel so not very big or my face would have been slashed. As it is I could smell its breath it came that close 😠😠😠😠 I did manage to wallop the animal with my stick which gave it pause, but as soon as I moved it went for me again.

Ultimately I managed to move off without much more than my trousers muddied. But seriously….

The tide really does encroach pretty quickly, which cut off part of my route along the beach.

On my way out I walked over this concrete slab.. a bit cut off on the way back…🤪🤪 thanks be for the promenade

A lucky morning; I found a real bounty of coloured and white glass pieces on the beach. Yesterday yielded only 2 pieces, today I found loads, especially of the dark green glass that is so beautiful.

I really do love that house…the views of the sunrise must be amazing

I cannot resist taking a photo every few minutes, it just is so beautiful. I love how the colours reflect off the waves on the beach

I saw another dead shark/dog fish on the beach, a tiny baby this time 😔😔 I do wonder what is killing them…probably the pollution

A magical walk and I’m so glad I made the effort. My kms are adding up, and the deficit going down 🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️👏👏👏

After such a beautiful morning at the coast, clear skies and mild weather, imagine my surprise as we approached Canterbury on the train….the countryside is heavy with mist…looks amazing and I was wishing I had the time to jump off the train and take photos

A complete contrast to Ramsgate…not that far away.

Totally spooky 👻👻

My next post will be from Somerset. I’m looking forward to exploring a new town.

Have a good day folks.

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Walking familiar paths

Posted in around the UK, conqueror challenges, Fun Stuff, It's my life, photography, Travel, walk 1000 miles 2020, tagged #plasticpollution, baby boomers travel, being a granny, conqueror virtual challenges, long distance walking, Ramsgate Harbour, walk1000miles, walking the English coast on November 26, 2020| 2 Comments »

Lockdown and the government tiers certainly doesn’t allow for much by way of exploring, except in your local vicinity. If you’re lucky enough to live in a countryside area, close to the sea, or near a river, even if its familiar its usually different and can still be enjoyed every day.

Hands and Molecules – a familiar and favourite sculpture on the clifftop – makes a good frame for the moon

I adore this house. Located near the King George VI Memorial Park on the Dumpton Gap side, I used to have house envy till I realised how close to the cliff edge it is 🤪🤪

I live (sort of*) near the sea and even though it’s the same, every day along the coast is different. I’ve found myself with time on my hands due to losing a 6 week assignment so made the most of the opportunity to spend time with my grandson and to catch up on my walking targets for 2020.

My favourite sunset to date…23.11.20 across Pegwell Bay

Sunset from the cliffs above Pegwell Bay near Cliffsend

One of my favourite village signboards – Cliffsend has seen Viking raiders, St Augustine’s arrival and WW2 action

I’ve seen some amazing sunrises and sunsets and had much fun with the kid. He’s developing into a very determined little boy and like most kids his age, he has a strong will. He’s also growing rapidly and requires his Granny to carry him when he gets tired….but Granny is not a bodybuilder and has her limits 😁😁

He’s going to be a displacement officer when he grows up 😉😁 loves to move stuff

Just a hop, skip and jump on the beach at Margate

I’ve mostly walked locally and managed a walk to Broadstairs and to the Sandwich side of the Pegwell Bay nature reserve.

Looking across the saltmarsh mudflats to Ramsgate

The saltmarsh mudflats, a fascinating environment

The mudflats are home to an incredible number of birdlife that visit here during the changing seasons

The reserve has an amazing history and played an important role in WW2.

On my way back from the nature reserve I walked along the beach beneath the cliffs; devastated to see the volume of plastic trash lining the high tide level and he number of dogshit bags piled up. It’ll take a team of 20-30 people to clear that up…it stretched from where I’m standing right along the cliffs; heartbreaking.

We’ve had a couple of family outings and made a special trip for the boobee to see the Christmas lights in Margate

Snowman!! Penguin!! Santa!! His vocabulary is expanding daily 🥰🥰

Ramsgate Harbour offers so many photographic opportunities, you could spend all day there

I’ve managed to increase my kms by 74 this week and passed my original target of 1600kms. I do however still have 375km to walk to reach my 2020 target of 2020kms. Looking forward to seeing if I’ve exceeded my October total 🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️

So yeah, I may be walking familiar routes, but every day it looks different.

* I sort of live in Ramsgate but because work all over the country I don’t actually have a home and liveineither a guest house or b&b between assignments. One day…I hope to have a home of my own.

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Harbour sparkle

Posted in around the UK, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Uncategorized, tagged Christmas, Christmas tree at St Pancras Station on November 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Christmas in the northern hemisphere falls in the perfect season.

The long dark nights are brightened by the hundreds of colourful lights that drape over balconies, hang from the streets lamps and decorate the boats in the harbour.

Every year we look forward to this season and once decorated the boats are a feast of colours.

A few of the boats are already decorated and it looks so pretty.

In transit this afternoon I whizzed through St Pancras between trains and stopped to take a pic of this year’s tree.

I’ve been disappointed with the trees the last few years, and still remember the best one ever from some years ago…the Disney tree…floor to ceiling with soft fluffy toys….delightful. best ever.

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Early morning London

Posted in around the UK, It's my life, tagged sunrise in London, the river thames on November 18, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Truly, what lockdown? Finally after 4 days of being in London there’s a decent sunrise. I could see the light reflecting on the Thames from the lounge window early this morning, so popped down to take a couple of photos.

Thinking I’d quickly dash across the road….no chance. The traffic is as heavy as if there wasn’t a lockdown. Its crazy. And for this I lost what could eventually, if the agency don’t get their act together, amount to 5 weeks of income.

Anyway, here’s a few images of the sun on the river