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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Wednesday 12 August 2020

Wednesday walk Faversham to Whitstable - Follow a windswept coastline on the Saxon Shore Way through marshes and creeks - ending with oysters in Whitstable

SWC 12 - Faversham to Whitstable

Length: 15.7 km (9.8 miles)
Toughness: 1 out of 10


For those comfortable using public transport outside of peak travel hours to get to the start of today's walk, and are prepared to be fully compliant with the travel "rules", which you will know by now, you have a choice of trains:

Either
London Victoria: 10-10 hrs      Dover Priory service     Bromley South 10-27 hrs
Arrive Faversham: 11-25 hrs
Or 
London St Pancras: 10-27 hrs     Southeastern HS1 service to Ramsgate      Stratford Intern. 10-34 hrs
Arrive Faversham: 11-31 hrs

Return
Whitstable to Victoria: 16-19, 16-39, 17-26, 18-22, 19-22 and 20-27 hrs
Whitstable to St Pancras: 16-49, 17-49, 19-01, 19-49 and 20-49 hrs

Rail ticket
Buy a day return to Whitstable

Could Victorians please linger with intent on the platform at Faversham for the few minutes before any Pancreatics arrive.  

If you like a flat, coastal, windswept walk - this is a walk for you !  Apart from a few mole hills, the terrain is flat - hence the low toughness rating. But the walk is not lacking in interest: from the Saxon Shore Way path through creeks and marshes and the path along the sea wall you have some lovely vast open views. Twitchers like this walk for the birdlife which can be spotted in the numerous marshes alongside the coastline.

Lunch is best taken in Seasalter at Forget Me Not Cafe and Tea Room (formerly Poppets) on Faversham Road. Open until 4 pm, this cafe serves classic British cuisine - most reports are very good. The gourmet restaurant on this walk - The Sportsman - is best avoided, because you usually have to book several weeks in advance - and it is expensive (although very good).

Entering Whitstable at walk-end, you should be able to find a tea stop, pub or oyster bar for a post walk treat and indulgence.
Allow at least 20 minutes from the centre of Whitstable to its railway station.
T=swc.12
This is a pleasant summer outing. Enjoy !  Walk Directions are here: L=swc.12



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will get the Train from Whitstable arriving 11:35 and catch-up with the group. Rich

Marcus said...

7 off the train from Victoria, 2 from St Pancras and 2 from Whitstable, so we mustered n=11 for today's seaside walk.
Fortunately, the temperature in Faversham and along the shore was ten degrees lower than in London, and although the air was heavy and a little humid, the sea breeze made walking conditions pleasant and comfortable. It was w=overcast-in-the-morning-then-lovely-sunshine-later. Infact, it had warmed up quite considerably by the time we left Seasalter and headed for Whitstable.
We met a few walkers in the morning but mostly we had the vast open spaces, marshes and creeks to ourselves. The tide was out early on, leaving the estuaries and creeks as mud flats.
Four stopped for their picnic a mile before Seasalter and six others had theirs on the beach in Seasalter. I purchased a take away from "Forget-Me-Not" cafe and enjoyed it sitting on the sea wall. Below me, on the beach, it was getting busier with bucket-and-spade families, most sensibly observing social distancing.
On then along the shoreline towards Whitstable, now in full-on sunshine, to find the town buzzing. We managed to secure an outside table at the otherwise full Old Neptune pub, on the sea front, and enjoyed post-walk drinks in the sun. At least 2 went for a swim - the tide now being in - and I hope they enjoyed their dip. On then through the busy town to the railway station, where 4 of us caught the 16-46 hrs train back to hot, sultry London - having enjoyed a lovely day out at the seaside.