I remember walking down the hill to the station at Stanford last October – with tired aching feet. This morning I’m walking up the hill from the station to the church and there’s a bounce in my stride.
Continue readingIt takes me 10 minutes to find my way out of Bosham as the tide is high and the houses and sailing clubs have monopolised the seafront. I walk through the churchyard 3 times before settling on a plan, but in the meantime I catch sight of a beautiful house. It looks very like the one I embroidered as an 8 year old which is now hanging in our kitchen.
Continue readingThe taxi driver that takes me back to the shoreline is a recently retired gentleman from Maidstone who “has never looked back” and loves Selsey and its people. He has also cycled the beach from Selsey to Bracklesham, only dismounting a few times, so I feel a little better about tackling 4 miles of shingle with the tide coming in.
Continue readingWalking out of Bognor is fairly straightforward – until I hit Aldwick where private houses block anything but a shingle beach walk and the sky is darkening to give us the first rain for weeks. A passing fisherman, seeing me struggling into my rain gear mutters something about it only lasting 5 minutes – and he’s right.
Continue readingFeeling like the proverbial mad dog I get off the train from London into a sweltering midday heat and take a local bus to the coast – to the point where I left off all those months ago. Walking past the palatial houses of Angmering-On-Sea I am perplexed by conflicting signposts – one saying public right of way and the other…………I decide to carry on.
Continue readingDamian is joining me today and as the logistics of the Halstow Marshes have beaten me, we will be following the Saxon Shore Way as far east as High Halstow, a village I walked through on my previous walk from AllHallows to Rochester.
Continue readingThe complicated network of footpaths crossing the Allhallows marshes, plus reports of heavy mud, makes up my mind – the first part of the walk is going cross country. And hurray for the Medway! The paths are clearly signposted and easy walking and I only get lost once.
Continue readingI step down onto the platform at Rochester station in spitting rain – a fitting backdrop to the miserable high street and desolate sea front. In the distance the stark profile of Kingsnorth Power Station rises up out of the mist on the water and soon I move into futuristic bus stations and dockland development – evidence of the Medway development plan.
Continue readingTucked away behind a busy retail park is the Sitttingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway, run by a group of enthusiasts who despite vandalism and indifference on the part of the local population, have managed to keep this lovely little steam engine running.
Continue readingI have the afternoon to fill a gap so I take the train to Shoeburyness, knowing that I will not be able to follow the coast due to military restrictions. One of three passengers on this grey day, I leave the train and walk northwards into town in the direction of the Wakerings.
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Joining the Dots 