Hythe; Sunday, 14 April, 2013

Despite the weather forecast claiming it was warm and sunny they clearly hadn’t taken the readings for this corner of Kent as I looked out of the hotel room at a grey and overcast sky that was still slowly eking damp over Hythe.

After breakfast and checking out I walked through town in a light drizzle to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway station to catch the train out to Dungeness.

I had a long wander around Dungeness, which is a truly strange location, the seemingly endless shingle beach, the multiple lighthouses, the lunar like landscape, and the whopping great big Nuclear power station.

I climbed up the old lighthouse to take in the views, which were sadly not more than a mile or so due to the weather. After descending I popped into the Britannia Inn for a spot of lunch.

On emerging from the Inn it was difficult to tell if I was still in the same place. In the space of 45 minutes the clouds had completely cleared and instead there was a stunning blue sky. Whereas before I could barely see more than a mile into the gloom I now could clearly make out the coast of France, the downs coming down to meet the sea between Folkestone and Dover and in the opposite direction what looked suspiciously like Beachy Head some 30+ miles away.

I caught the train back to New Romney and had a quick wander around, before realising that the station is stuck quite a long way away from both the beach and the rest of the town, so I had a look around the museum and model railway before catching the next train on to Dymchurch.

There it was much easier to get out to the beach, albeit the beach having disappeared under a very high tide, but with the sun beating down it was a really pleasant afternoon to have a stroll along the prom with an ice cream.

I wandered back to the station and caught the train back into Hythe, managed a very quick connection onto the bus back the three stops (lazy I know) to the bus stop near the hotel, walked down to the hotel, picked up my stuff and was back at the stop in time to pick up the bus 30 minutes later into Folkestone.

The bus arrived a few minutes early into Folkestone so I had enough time to make the seven minute walk to the station and catch the train an hour earlier than I had planned. Settling down into the seat, this time actually heading between Folkestone and Sandling in the correct direction.