Jane’s Walk 2025 – Day 14
This is our penultimate day of our walk and we make our way back to Deal. The weather is better with rain forecast for 4pm. Back on the esplanade, we continue along the sea front.
An information board explains about the infamous Goodwin Sands, which, according to the board, had shipwrecked over 2.5 thousand ships over the years. The sea between the Goodwin Sands and the mainland provides excellent commercial fishing to this day.
As we leave Deal we pass Walmer Castle, which were one of 3 castles built by Henry VIII in the town, the others being Deal and Sandown in 1539–40 as defence against invading France. Walmer Castle is now the Grace and Favour home of the Warden of the Cinque Ports and apparently has a beautiful garden within the walls.
Because of its strategic position, since the time of Elizabeth I, Deal has had an important naval history and the building of a large naval yard brought trade to the town, fitting out and supplying the fleet.
Further along we come to Kingsdowne, again an important fishing village and known for smuggling in the past. Many of the houses along the sea front here are built on stilts to get the benefit of the sea view, some are very modern and interesting.
At the end of the village, we get our first view of the towering white cliffs which will be with us for the next 2 days. The Saxon Shore Way takes us up virtually vertical steps to the top of the cliff. We are pleased with ourselves that we manage without losing too much puff!
From here we walk beside a golf course with great views of the channel and the French coastline in the distance. After leaving the golf course we are into the National Trust land of Brockhill Farm. This is a pleasant walk through rolling farmland, with an abundance of wild flowers beside our path.
We walk past a large obelisk commemorating those who died in the Dover Petrol in World War I and WWII. Leaving the NT land we are walking into St Margaret Cliffe and I am on the phone to Richard about our lunch stop.
A lady walking past overhears my conversation as she is surprised I am even able to get a phone signal. She hears that we are to meet at the bottom of the cliffs at a restaurant called the Coastguard and was able to show us the steps that take us all the way to the bottom rather than walking the long route round by road.
In conversation with her, we ask about whether they had many illegal boats coming in here. Having confirmed that there were many, and that it was a nightmare for the coastguards who were receiving flack for intercepting these boats. She then told us that those that were not picked up were met by smuggling gangs and the rubber dinghies were abandoned, presumably having removed the outboard motors. This fact is never mentioned in the press.
At the beach we have an excellent lunch at the pub. The route back to the top, although steep, is up a zig-zagged wooded path which makes walking less strenuous.
At the top we are back on NT land and pass the now abandoned lighthouse. It was originally erected in 1634 after a petition by shipowners distressed by the loss of life on the Goodwin Sands. The path is now full of walkers, including large groups of children, visiting the lighthouse, presumably before boarding their ferries home from Dover.
We now can see across to Dover harbour with the constant flow of channel ferries coming and going. The wind is blowing up and the forecast for tomorrow is not good. There is a weather warning out for 50 mph winds coming from the south west which is the direction we will be walking to Folkestone.
Unless the forecast changes overnight, we decide that this would be dangerous and that we should end our walk today as we cannot stay another day to wait for the weather to clear.
It’s been an interesting 14 days and we have learnt a lot about this part of the country. We hope very much that our supporters reading our blogs will give generously to our charities.
