Deal seafront

A dry day for a change so we decided to try another section of our Around Kent Coast walk. Today was the 7 mile stretch from Deal to Sandwich. We've not visited Deal very much but were pleasantly surprised by the seafront and the small town. Lots of fishing boats hauled onto the beach, surrounded by all their paraphernalia, including fishing boxes, pots, trays, greasy engines, winches and sheds

Deal is a historic place on a shipping route around the North Foreland and adjacent to the infamous Goodwin Sands. Several ships were anchored in The Downs, a safe channel between the shore and the sands. A couple of castles hereabouts - Deal and Walmer, both similar designs.

The walk up the coast was ontop of the sea wall, with golf courses to the left, the open sea to the right and Ramsgate and the Isle of Thanet clearly seen on the horizon.

We pass though Sandwich Bat Estate, which is the strangest place - large houses in a private estate, miles from anywhere. One particular house looked very old but was in fact a 20th C building constructed in the 1920s from old timbers from 2 17th C buildings from Dover. The whole estate is less than 100 years old and was built as holiday homes for the wealthy gentry of Edwardian London.

The last part of the walk took us across the hallowed turf of the Royal St. George golf course, the scene of British Open championships in the past. Must be closed for the winter.

We arrived at Sandwich railway station with 5 minutes to spare for the hourly service which would take me back to Deal (a 6 minute journey that had taken us an hour and three quarters to walk) where I picked up the car to drive back to Sandwich for Susan. You may ask why? That 6 minute journey cost £3.30 each!