Contemplation on the Royal Millitary Canal, Hythe

A second lovely day of sunshine so our walk today was down in Hythe. All these years we've been going to Hythe and all that time we've walked along Princes Parade promonade by the sea. So, this time we parked somewhere different and ambled along the Royal Millitary Canal into Hythe town centre, where we had coffee and a cake and browsed the shop windows before continuing on along the canal to Sandgate where we rejoined the coast for a short distance to Sandgate Castle - our turnaround point.

We returned for a short distance along the coast, into the wind, alongside dozens of fishermen on the beach, no doubt in a competition as they were last time we were down here. But the wind was cool so we diverted back to the canal side for a more transquil walk back to the car - overall covering 7 miles.

The Royal Millitary Canal was built as a line of defence to deter Napoleon from invading. If I was him, I'd have just gone around the ends and bypassed it. Nevertheless, the canal is now a valuable attraction to the area for wildlife and recreation and is well used and much loved. Susan saw her first kingfisher on the canal last year.