Day 65 – Dover to Margate

 

 Date: Sunday 3^rd April 2011   Distance: Miles 37.46

 

We preferred Dover this morning in the sunshine and further into the town there was a precinct with smart shops. Some old buildings needed a face lift but it looked like some effort had been made already with the paved cobbled ways and a huge TV screen maybe there for the royal wedding. There was an unusual underpass for cyclists and pedestrians with walls covered in beautiful ship murals. After this the character changed again, as there were quite grand buildings, maybe Georgian, leading to the seafront.

 

We cycled along the deserted front on a green tarmac path to the ferry and white cliffs. The only other cyclist was from New Zealand and after working here for some years he was beginning the long cycle home!

At the ferry terminal we had nowhere to go except up and up stairs( marked as a cycle route) and when we thought that there were no stairs left we had yet more to carry the bike up. Occasionally there was a very narrow strip at the side of the steps that the wheel just about fitted in for pushing. The castle previously high on the hill now was behind and below us. There were kissing gates large enough for the tandem and then we were at White Cliffs Park with the cycle Path running through. It came out on a quietish road which took us to St.Margaret’s at Cliff- reputedly the first place in Britain to get sunrise.

The bumpy path took us through some woods to a steep descent ending in the sea. This began Kingsdown, where rather nice houses lined one side of the road and the beach was on the other.

At Walmer Castle we noticed mother’s day flowers attached to quite a lot of the benches along the promenade. There were Victorian white houses at Deal and the pier was made of concrete and utilitarian in design with a covered area for fishermen on the end. All the beaches seem to be shingle. At the first golf club, of which there were several on the way to Sandwich, we went wrong. Not wanting to take the private road which turned out to be the right one we rode the rough stuff with flying golf balls. It was only when we noticed helmets over the hedge that we scrambled through and got back to a decent riding surface.

We had elevenses at Sandwich at a little teashop. Here reminded me of Norfolk with sedge along a narrow river with sailing boats.

At Ebbsfleet power station, that is falling down but still a decent landmark, there is an industrial area served by good cycle paths through almost orange soil. The run into Ramsgate had a few stops by the Viking replica ship, sculpture of metal hands with real children sitting inside and the open air art gallery along the prom. Local artists had paintings on hoarding that hid a building site. This stretched for some way and caused a lot of congestion for cyclists as people stopped to scrutinise the work s of art.

 

At Kingsgate and Joss Bay there were lovely chalk and sea views and an unusual arch formation in the sea. There was flint decoration in some of the walls. Margate was a bit more “kiss me quick” and the weather started to cloud over. The train was cancelled so we had to ride an extra 5 miles quickly to catch the connecting train back to Dover.