Featured

A life less complicated

Featured / freedombird / 13 Comments

Having completed a large chunk of the British coastline and visited 1467 beaches on the way, ventured into the unknown, crossing the English Channel for the first time and seeing what the coastline of France has to offer and adding a further 459 beaches to our tally, we are off again. This time, as a complete change we are on the pursuit of stunning scenery and again crossing the channel and meandering down the core of Western Europe to see what we can see…

If you would like to see our earlier journeys around the UK, they have loosely been grouped together by location and you can find the links below.

NB some of the links below are not yet working properly as it is a work in progress….

Beach Guides:

To catch up with our earlier adventures in:

  1. North coast of Cornwall from 5th October 2017 to 11th February 2018 –   Freedombird in Cornwall
  2. Back in Cornwall at various times to complete the coastline – Freedombird back in Cornwall
  3. North coast of Devon from 11th February to 19th March 2018 – Freedombird in North Devon
  4. Somerset from 19th March to 29th April 2018 – Freedombird in Somerset
  5. South Wales coast from 29th April to 14th August 2018 – Freedombird in South Wales
  6. West and North Wales coast from 14th August to 21st October 2018 – Freedombird in West and North Wales
  7. North West England from 21st October to 26th November 2018 and 27th January to 4th February 2019 – Freedombird in North West England
  8. Cumbria from 27th January to 5th April 2019 – Freedombird in Cumbria
  9. South Coast of Scotland from 5th April to 25th May 2019 – Freedombird on the South Coast of Scotland
  10. West Coast of Southern Scotland from 26th May to 17th July 2019 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Southern Scotland
  11. Edinburgh and surrounding area from 18th July to 30th July 2019 – Freedombird in Edinburgh and surrounding beaches
  12. East Coast of Southern Scotland from 28th July to 15th September 2019 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Southern Scotland
  13. North East England from 12th September to 20th November 2019 – Freedombird in the North East of England
  14. Yorkshire from 14th January to 22nd February 2020 – Fredombird in Yorkshire
  15. Lincolnshire from 23rd February to 13th March 2020 – Freedombird in Lincolnshire
  16. Norfolk and Suffolk from 15th to 24th March 2020 and 28th June to 18th July 2025 – Freedombird in Norfolk and Suffolk
  17. Inland England on various dates travelling through – Freedombird in inland England
  18. West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1 from 11th September to 14th October 2024 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1
  19. North Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys from 15th to 27th October 2024 – Freedombird on the North Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys
  20. East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1 from 28th October to 15th November 2024 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1
  21. In the Highlands of Scotland from 15th to 26th November 2024 and 10th to 21st June 2025 – Freedombird in the Highlands
  22. West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2 from 8th to 17th April and 31st May to 5th June 2025 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2
  23. Outer Hebrides Part 1 from 22nd April to 12th May 2025 – Freedombird in the Outer Hebrides Part 1
  24. Outer Hebrides Part 2 from 10th May to 30th May 2025 – Freedombird in the Outer Hebrides Part 2
  25. East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2 from 15th to 18th June 2025 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2
  26. North and West Coast of France from 11th September to 7th December 2025 – Freedombird on the North and West Coast of France

Monday 15th June 2026 – moving into East Sussex after a stop off at Folkestone….

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A bit more of a grey day today with some very half hearted attempts at rain first thing as we pack up and make ready to leave Canterbury and Kent behind.

First though we find parking on the seafront on the south side of Folkestone in Sandgate and walk along the promenade on Sandgate Beach heading northwards….

Passing Sandgate’s small castle….

Before rounding the headland onto Folkestone Beach, somewhat lost to the tide in places….

Folkestone Beach giving way to the deeper shingle Mermaid Beach which butts up to the Port….

The clouds here looked fairly dramatic but only produced a couple of spots of rain fortunately as we made our return to the van parked beyond Sandgate.

Moving on a couple of miles and stopping briefly on the seafront at Hythe to capture the beach….

Here the parking was chargeable so we decided to continue on our way to our next campsite another 40 or so miles along the coast in East Sussex at Normans Bay CCC and once we had arrived and were pitched, we crossed the road to explore our resident beach for the next week or so – Normans Bay Beach….

A nice bit of off lead time for Tilly and a nice bit of sea air to help us sleep!!

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 65
  • Miles walked – 6
  • Beaches – 5
  • O/N – £11.10 no EHU

Sunday 14th June 2026 – a coastal walk along the beaches and castles of Deal….

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Another fine walking day with the same gentle coastal breeze as yesterday. Today we continue our journey around the coast heading south and find seafront parking at the northern end of Deal by the site of the former Sandown Castle and at the start of the promenade.

Sandown shingle beach continues north for several miles to Pegwell Country Park just shy of Ramsgate backed by several golf courses along the way and southwards towards the coastal town of Deal….

Apart from the odd fisherman dotted along the shore, the beach is pretty deserted until we arrive near the centre of Deal where the beach becomes Deal Beach….

The town itself and the promenade are quite busy on this lovely Sunday afternoon as we continue our walk passing the Time Ball Tower a Victorian Maritime Signal Tower, now housing a museum – the time ball is mechanically programmed to rise up the mast at 5 to 1 and drops at 1pm every day (we are too late to see this) and a little further on is Deal Castle ….

Beyond the castle the beach is occupied by a few fishing boats and wild flowers and looking back on Kent’s last remaining fully intact pleasure pier….

Pressing on along the promenade we wander past the village of Walmer (now pretty much absorbed into Deal) to it’s castle….

And very deserted but prettily strewn with wild flowers, shingle beach which eventually leads to Kingsdown which is just a tad too far for us, as we make this our turning point and after a time on the beach, we head back to the van….

Another lovely long walk not exactly beach walking but promenade walking which has to be the second best type and easily preferable when the beach is shingle!

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 36
  • Miles walked – 7
  • Beaches – 3
  • Fuel – £99.63
  • Groceries – £51.71
  • O/N – £9.50

Saturday 13th June 2026 – a lovely walk along the Botany Bay Walking Trail….

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A perfect walking day for us today, a little cloud and breeze around making for comfortable walking conditions as we head back up to the coast just to the east of Margate and find free seafront parking in Cliftonville where we join the Botany Bay Walking Trail at Palm Bay Beach, a lovely sandy crescent shaped beach backed by white chalky cliffs….

The trail is actually along the tops of the cliffs but there is an undercliff walk for part of this trail, suitable for when the tide is out or at least when the seas are relatively calm and this was our choice today….

As the undercliff walk finished and we rejoined the upper cliff trail just before we reached the lovely wilder end of Botany Bay Beach….

Around a small headland the wider Bay of Botany Bay opened up….

Surprisingly quiet on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, we continued along the trail until Kingsgate Castle came into view….

Sitting high above the rather lovely Kingsgate Bay with it’s dramatic and perfectly formed chalk archway….

A little further along and the last bay on this section was Joss Bay, probably more popular because of it’s proximity to a car park – this was our turning point….

On returning to the van we drove a few short miles to Broadstairs where we opted for paid parking away from the seafront as it didn’t look like the seafront was as accessible and wandered down through the busy village to Stone Bay to the west and St Mary’s Bay still largely engulfed by the tide….

In the centre of. the town is Viking Bay, clearly the most popular….

Walking along the promenade to the east of town is the much quieter and equally sandy Louise Bay….

Our day is not done yet as we move further south and make a brief stop on the seafront in Ramsgate, choosing the north and quieter end of town to find free parking and walk from Winterstoke Gardens end along the top above Winterstoke Beach

And finally down onto Ramsgate Beach and back along the lower promenade….

A fabulous day, lots of lovely beaches and plenty of good walks.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 45
  • Miles walked – 9
  • Beaches – 10
  • C/P – £2.20
  • O/N – £9.50

Friday 12th June 2026 – a lovely walk along the White Cliffs of Dover….

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Still a bit damp this morning but soon drying up and the clouds gradually thinning as the day wore on and we are keen to get out and about again.

Today we are heading for Dover, well more specifically the White Cliffs and headed for the National Trust car park up above the Port and Dover. The small motorhome specific car park (only taking 8 vans and certainly nothing over 7.5m in length) had just the two spaces left – lo and behold either side of an identical van (me on the right)….

We set off on a rather windy walk along the tops of the White Cliffs with views of Dover castle behind us and the white cliffs ahead (west)….

We were soon looking down on the black sands of Langdon Beach (accessible through a tunnel and steep metal steps – so not for us) and out at the cloud shadows and glimpses of sun out across the English Channel unfortunately it is definitely not clear enough to catch any glimpses of France….

We reached South Foreland Lighthouse and decided to continue along to the next village of St Margaret’s at Cliffe visible along the cliffs in the distance….

A steep climb down onto the beach at the bottom where we took a while recharging our batteries before making the climb back up….

Our return route was slightly more inland and away from the worst of the wind through lush green meadows with glimpses back along the cliffs….

Rejoining the cliff path for a look at the busy Port and down onto Dover and it’s beach in the distance….

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 41
  • Miles walked – 9
  • O/N – £9.50

Thursday 11th June 2026 – a thoroughly miserable day….

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Well yesterday afternoon and evening’s lovely sunshine did not last and this morning we have woken to grey skies and rather than intermittent showers, pretty heavy rainfall lasting for hours at a time with only sporadic breaks in between.

A grey day in Canterbury….

So we have stuff to do, laundry and admin things like catching up on photo organisation and these blogs so we decided to stay put and use the day catching up and binge watching YouTube to get ideas for our next adventures.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles walked – 2
  • Laundry – £8.50
  • O/N – £9.50