Length: Main walk: 14.8km
(9.2 miles)
a) Via the Cliftop Cafe:
15.9km (9.9 miles)
b) Avoiding the Warren:
15.2km (9.4 miles)
c) Folkestone Circular:
12.9km (8 miles) or 13.9km (8.6 miles)
Toughness
Toughness: Mostly 5 out of 10; the steep climb is a 9
out of 10 but this can be avoided if you do options a or b
Trains:
9.52 from Victoria –
arrives Folkestone at 11.37
10.37 from London St.
Pancras arrives Folkestone at 11.37 (this involves changing at Ashford Intl.
Train arrives at Ashford 11.14 and you catch the 11.19 to Folkestone).
Return Trains:
From Dover Priory:
xx.00 and xx.48 for London
St Pancras
xx.00 and xx.05 for
Victoria
From Folkestone:
xx.58 and xx.10 to London
St Pancras
xx.10 to Victoria
Ticket types: Buy return
to Dover if walking there or Folkestone return
Lunch and Tea: See walk notes for options
Description:
A highly scenic coastal
walk with fine sea views throughout. Walk through the interesting part of the town,
and then climb up past a Martello Tower (Napoleonic-era fortification) and out
into the Warren, an interesting area of wild coastland and former landslips,
where you walk along concrete sea defences and then climb on a steep, but not
vertiginous, path up to the top of the cliff.
The rest of the route into
Dover is along the top of the chalk cliffs, passing a fascinating series of
World War II installations, including a rare sound mirror (an early form of
aircraft detection that was superseded by radar), and some large gun
emplacements. Walking into Dover is pretty dramatic - a narrow (but not difficult) ridge between an
inland valley and the sea. The walk finishes by crossing the town’s Western
Heights, passing deserted 19th century forts and with wonderful views of the
town and port.
Details of walk can be
found here: https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/folkestone-to-dover/
T=swc.13
1 comment:
Don’t let anyone tell you high speed trains are not popular. Southeastern Highspeed were having a stellar day despite a w=mixed weather forecast. All seats taken on the 10.37, and the 10.07 (which I got) was pretty busy. Coming back, the 17.48 from Dover was likewise at capacity.
12 of us started the walk. First order of business: would we finish in Folkestone or Dover? Dover edged it. I was pleased. It is an interesting walk but rarely gets done. I am not sure if it has ever been done in summer.
We had quite a bit of sunshine in the morning and that inspired four of us, once we got to Folkestone Warren, to have a swim. The sea was a lovely temperature, a bit wavy, but nothing serious. The others had lunch on the beach.
Ah, lunch. It fell to me to point out what the walk post did not, that we were unlikely to get any. The Royal Oak is very basic and still operating as far as I know, but was not to be relied on. So those that had not already, bought sandwiches at the start.
Just after we got to the Warren beach walker number N=13 joined us, having driven to Folkestone. But when we stopped to swim, he decided to carry on. We never saw him again. Whether it counts when someone is with the group for just 500 metres, I do not know. But his stated intention was to continue on the route, so I include him.
After lunch it clouded up and even drizzled for a short time. This dampened spirits just a bit on the “big climb”. At the top of the cliff strong winds were a factor, but once clear of the cliff edge they eased. During the windy bit one walker took a more inland route around a house and never reappeared. I have no idea why not, as the only option was to rejoin the main path.
There was some sun thereafter but a lot of cloud. We stopped at the Sound Mirror. We looked down on Samphire Hoe. We went inside a WW2 gun emplacement. Thus far group cohesion was good, but I then fell behind due to those twin evils, butterflying and walk checking. Four walkers kindly waited for me, and we had a bit of a sit down. When we restarted, two went the obvious way, which was wrong, and by the time I realised this, they were out of earshot. They too evaporated into thin air. I have no idea how they got to Dover given the way they went.
The remaining trio followed the specified route, with lots of interest on the way, including Dover’s forgotten beach and the little-visited forts on the Western Heights. From what I learned later, most of the rest of the group did the same. We got to Dover at 5pm, and skies being grey, abandoned thoughts of going to the beach and went to Costa Coffee in a new shopping plaza before getting the aforementioned train home.
Any variant accounts welcome….
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