After a reasonable nights sleep , we got up to grab some helpers ( cold & flu tablets ) to help stop the nose from running . After some food and motivation , we headed out . The weather wasn't like yesterday , cold & windy and low cloud . Heading down the road to the beach was a great idea , no parking anywhere near it for about half a mile ( notice that , we've converted again 😂 ). Then we found some parking in a gravel bed - sorry that would be a shingle bed !! These beaches are called Shingles .
Of course there were the obligatory beach huts of different styles & colours .
The tide must rise and fall over 2yards here , as the water was a long way out - nearly couldn't see it due to the great visibility .
The shingle beaches here have their own wildflowers , which makes an interesting scene .
Down the road a bit further is Dungeness , where there's an old lighthouse , as well as it's successor - a newer one - apparently this new one is lighthouse number 5 !
The older one about half a mile away is usually open to paying visitors , but there was a sign up today saying it was closed due to having school buses arriving . The gentleman running the shop & entrance let us in for a look and a chat before the buses arrived ( we had to pay of course ) . The circular white house to the left of the lighthouse used to be number 3 - there was lighthouse on top of the building .
Then there was the view out the other side of the lighthouse to the Nuclear Power Plant .
Back to the lighthouse self guided tour , you get to climb 5 storeys high . These lenses were used to warn shipping of the dangers .
Looking through the salt covered windows was like looking back in time as a steam train came chuffing down the tracks - looked like an episode of Heartbeat 😂 Then you realise it's a smaller version of the real thing , used to ferry passengers down to the lighthouse . The fence it's going to is a normal post & rail type fence at the station .
Here's my lovely wife coming up the stairs in the middle section of the lighthouse .
I am presuming this is the control rooms for the power plant - plenty of people employed there it seems.
Back down and out before the school kids got to go in , and we found a radiation warning sign - not you're everyday occurrence !
Heading off , because it was cold , we took some back roads and ended up at a pretty small town called Lydd , where we got some more cold & flu tablets .
The cathedral seemed large for a smaller town like this , but was interesting to have look at . The cemetery around the church had recently been mowed - must have known we were coming 😆
The cathedral was open to visitors , so we had a look .
The spire stood out no matter where you were in town . Always a pub close by .
We had parked beside a hedged area , and discovered it was a war memorial . There were some newer features here as a tribute to the airforce .
To the army .
And the royal navy as well .
This cottage had the only name it could have - Ivy End Cottage .
Heading off again , we got to Camber and found a spot to have some lunch , it was still windy and cold , but at least the sun was breaking through . This photo shows one of the ramps down to the beach , it can be shut off with the large steel gates , to block off storm surge or king tides ??? The area to the right of the seawall is an area called Romney Marsh , and it's all land that is below the high tide mark - hence the reinforcement rocks and concrete wall to slow the water down . If the seawalls are ever breached , there will be thousands of people & towns going under .
One of our diversions was down a road into a trailer park to turn around - there were hundreds of these here .
Out of the trailer park and into the large town of Rye . There's an interesting one way road system in Rye , it takes you all round the streets , we found a parking spot near this old gate / entrance . Parking paid for , we had 2 hours to get around and have a look .
This is the other side of The Landgate , with some interesting buildings either side .
Making our way down to the river where the tide was coming in quickly .
Coming back towards town , we found a set of steps that led to a pub dating to 1892 . There were some more steps and we found ourselves at The Rye Castle , complete with cannons .
Through to the main road , down another alleyway and we came out at this phone box and across the road was a micro pub - apparently they are very popular .
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