Got in a very respectable 15.9kms this morning. Starting off with a fantastic sunrise….red sky in the morning and all that
I headed up the coast to Stone Bay via Broadstairs where I stopped off at my favourite tearoom The Old Bakehouse for almond croissants (best ever) with a cup of coffee, which I enjoyed on the promenade, and fed the sparrows some toasted almond crumbs.
Almond croissant from The Old Bake House, Broadstairs Ever so cute…
Enroute I strolled past the Dickens Museum – although he didn’t actually live here, it was the home of one of his characters in David Copperfield; Betsy Trotwood.
The Dickens Museum, Broadstairs
By the time I reached the end of Stone Bay the wind had come up and that promised storm blew in…with a vengeance.
Blowing up a storm I wondered why….
Before heading back to Ramsgate, I bought some bird seed and scattered it amongst the bushes for the wee sparrows.
The wind was so strong along the foreshore that my walking poles were blown backwards and I had to plow into the wind.
Despite the wind and cold and rain, I had a fantastic walk. The harbour looked very different when I got back from when I left just after 7am
7:20am11:14am
And tomorrow I’m back to work. I don’t feel as if I’ve had a proper break.
But I did have a most wonderful afternoon with my lovely family…Christmas tree decorating. I’ll write about that tomorrow..
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.
Sunrise in Broadstairs Sunset over 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.
No hardship walking in this environment
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.
Crossing the White Cliffs of Dover
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…
Old disused railway line in Lewes
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 ….😉
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.
Spectacular lightshow at 06.45amStunning colours reflecting on the wavesGood morning sun 🌞
I walked as far as Dumpton Gap and back to the harbour chasing the incoming tide.
The tide was well in at Dumpton Gap
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 😔😔😔
From yesterday
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 amazingI cannot resist taking a photo every few minutes, it just is so beautiful. I love how the colours reflect off the waves on the beachI 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.
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 moonI 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.
Sunrise 23.11.20 @ 7.15amSunrise 23.11.20 @ 7.26amRamsgate Harbour Into the light….Sunrise 25.11.20 @ 9.26amSunset 24.11.20Sunset 23.11.20My 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 😁😁
My favourite swing…he loves it tooFinding a fairy’s front door 🧚♂️🧚♀️He’s going to be a displacement officer when he grows up 😉😁 loves to move stuff Empathy for a dead shark 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 🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️
I’m determined to reach my target
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.
Look what I bought for myself this afternoon. ☺☺ I felt I deserved a treat (besides the sunrise and sunsets) after all the stress this week. I’d been planning on buying it 2nd hand online, but suddenly felt impatient. Just a day ago I read the write up in The Guardian (February 2019) via @pilgrimtrust and felt so inspired by their journey; the bravery of facing down the odds and taking the challenge head on. It helped lift me out of my slump, and reminded me that I have much to be grateful for – even though I’m still very grumpy about the dishonesty of that carer (and that she’s just going to get away with her manipulative behaviour) 😡😡😡 that’s how grumpy I am 😁😁 Anyway, whatever, I had a lovely long walk to Broadstairs and back and now I’m reclining on my bed and just about to dive in…. p.s. if you Google ‘the salt path’ the article is a few entries down.
The Salt Path
I’ll let you know what I think when I’ve finished it…although I’m pretty certain I’m going to love it. 📘
14.11.2020 Saturday 21:38
I’ve just finished reading The Salt Path. What an extraordinary story. Of pain, of loss and hunger and an enduring love that triumphed over the worst kind of adversity.
Its left me wanting to fetch my backpack and just go….
Not Just a Granny 
You must be logged in to post a comment.