SWC walk 101 15.7km (9.8 miles) 2/10
An easy seaside walk. You’ll be following the directions in reverse from Margate to either Broadstairs or Ramsgate. Not exactly rocket science. Just keep the sea to your left.
Margate's Turner Gallery is an early attraction (free admission). Then off you go, past several beaches, a clifftop castle, and two possible lunch pubs towards Broadstairs, a town associated with Dickens. As you approach Broadstairs, you will see strange sights. Grown men with antlers on their heads. Dogs in tutus. Troubadours with painted faces serenading your every step, that sort of thing. Don't worry. It wasn’t the soup. You have arrived in the middle of Broadstairs Folk Week. There are some free performances but, to find out more, you'll have to buy a programme. There are other acts you need tickets for, either individually or with a day pass (see their website for more details).
Or you can just continue on to Ramsgate - no pressure.
Trains
You can travel from either St Pancras or Blackfriars today. Buy a return to Margate.
St Pancras has the edge. There are two prices from St Pancras depending on which route you take.
The Blackfriars return is slightly cheaper again (perhaps more so with zone discounts) but takes a little longer.
Get the 09:25 from St Pancras, reaching Margate at 10:59. This is covered by the cheaper St Pancras fare.
The best Blackfriars train, the 09:40, would get you to Margate for 11:24. Maybe you could hire a fast donkey and catch the others up.
Returning from Broadstairs.
To St Pancras: Trains at xx:59 (fastest) xx:05 and xx:25, (the xx:25 is covered by the cheaper fare).The last train is at 21:59.
To Blackfriars: xx:11, with the last practical train at 21:11 (the 22:41 arrives at 00:37).
Returning from Ramsgate:Lunch
To St Pancras: Trains at xx:05 (platform 2), xx:12 and xx:20, (the xx:20 is covered by the cheaper fare). The last train is at 22:05.
To Blackfriars: take the xx:05 ( platform 1), the last practical train is the 21:16 to Charing Cross (the 22:35 arrives at 00:37).
If you want a sit-down meal, I'd suggest one of the clifftop pubs before Broadstairs – the Captain Digby or the Botany Bay. Broadstairs itself has plenty to offer, including the Charles Dickens pub, but could be busy. If I remember right, there is a festival area with food-stalls.
Tea
If you go as far as Ramsgate, there is a large Wetherspoons, the The Royal Victoria Pavillion.
Walk Directions here. You're doing them backwards OK? That's clockwise in the author's parlance. Although the directions suggest you can walk along the beach in places, high tide is at 1:30 so that option is probably best left till mid-afternoon . (Unless, of course, you have inflatable dinghy shoes and a back-up helicopter). But don't take Mr Tiger's word for it, check local notices.
5 comments:
Sea swimmers may like to note that it is high tide at 13.45 or so today. The wonderful Margate seawater pool, about a mile beyond the Turner Gallery, is recommended for a dip but be careful if the tide is rising as it is covered at high tide and last year I left my clothes on the side of it and they were nearly washed away as the tide came in.
Probaly the nicest place to swim, though, is Botany Bay (sandy), a lovely beach. Kingsgate and Joss Bay are also nice. Stone Beach near Broadstairs loses the sun by 4 or 5pm, however and in the lower half of the tide underwater rocks are a problem here.
hi Mr T thinking of starting from Broadstairs ...how many miles to Margate from there please?
Mr T' s dodgy maths makes it about 13.5 km (knock off 3km for Ramsgate to Broadstairs and add on a bit for journey from Broadstairs station to beach)
n=7 or 8, I hear
I heard 9, but I won’t argue. Weather “W=pretty-good”
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