Plagued on this break with places closed - we had set out to visit Belmont house and gardens, only to find that it was now closed (contrary to the web stated yesterday!), however we knew that Reculver towers would be
open and there was also an opportunity to stroll along the coast path.
We parked in the car park (there was a special rate for camper vans but I could
not work out how to get this on the phone so we registered for 2 hours and set
off across to the towers on the headland in front of us.
There is very little left of the church that the towers belong to (or the
associated roman fort). I think the towers are accessible on special days, but
today was very windy so it was best to stay grounded.
Crossing the inside of the fort (all grass) to the east gate and down onto the
coast path heading towards Thanet.
Dropping down onto the beach and along the edge of the water. This gave a bit of
shelter from the wind blowing across the path above us.
We disturbed a flock of what we think were plovers, but looked more like ghosts.
They circled out to sea and back behind us.
Also on the bird spotting front
every marker post out to sea had a couple of Cormorants (at a guess) perched.
Back up on the pathway since the tide was coming in and the beach had a shingle
slope. This showed some working in the dike inland - some kind of paddle
wheel.
However we continued along the very straight path towards Thanet.
At the first lagoon there was an alternative return to the towers cutting
across to the railway line and around in a circle. This seemed a good option and
would reduce the wind impact as well as make a different view outlook.
The path followed the river Whatsum down to the railway line, and then along a large bank running alongside it (we skipped the loop around the other side of the rails, as marked on the map)
Then the path turned back towards the sea following the Rushbourne Sea wall - really just another bank. This angled across to the abandoned shellfish hatchery and sewage pumping station to the coastal path at the edge of the roman fort.
We followed the boundary wall of the fort around to the King Ethelbert Inn where we stopped for lunch (this time settling for lunch rather than dinner).
From here we looked for a distraction in the afternoon, and after it began to rain chose to cut our losses and head back to the campsite. However on arrival we had only recovered the batteries to 60% so needed to go back out and drive around some more.
We followed the road from the campsite to Sandwich then up to Ramsgate and back again, where upon we had recovered more charge that would see us out.
