Desert

K and I decided to go away for a couple of days so after a few web searches and phone calls we decided to head south and drove to Dungeness in Kent where we’d long fancied visiting Derek Jarman’s house on the shingle beach. After a tasty fish and chip lunch we struck out across the shingle to the water’s edge and tramped along under dramatic skies (which gradually cleared, leaving a huge rainbow into the sea). Apparently this is the largest expanse of shingle in the world and the UK’s only desert (amazing what you can learn from a pub menu!).
We enjoyed browsing amongst the many abandoned boats and rusting metals around the old lifeboat station and across the shingle. Such a strange landscape with the nuclear power station brooding over us in the background. We were surprised that his cottage was on the road rather than, as we’d expected, in the midst of the shingle, but wandered around the collection of his beach finds in his garden then had a mooch around the more modern and very swish modern versions of his cottage further along the beach.
Walked back to the car and then headed to Rye via another lovely walk all along Camber Sands. By now very sunny and there were lots of kite surfers out on the waves. Gorgeous.
Took us a while to get into Rye as a couple of roads were closed but eventually made it to our B&B. Relaxed for a while before heading into town for some Italian supper then home and soon asleep....a good day!