lighthouse

Saturday 20th June 2026 – back to Kent for the day….

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A lovely day with a bit of cloud and breeze around to keep the temperatures comfortable and so getting a fairly early start we headed for Dymchurch and after a little bit of searching found somewhere to safely park the van as we went for a walk along the sea wall (at high tide there is no beach along this bit of coast) to enjoy the miles of uninterrupted and glorious sand….

We walked beyond the busy resort of Dymchurch to the next village beyond – St Marys Bay and it’s glorious beach stretching to the horizon and the silouette of Dungeness Power Station….

We then headed back to the van and drove down the coast towards Dungeness, stopping briefly at the pebbly beaches of Littlestone-on-Sea and Greatstone-on-Sea…

Parking up again at Dungeness we had a good wander around this beautiful yet barren landscape enjoying the New Lighthouse, Old Lighthouse and the quirky almost shanty type houses with no apparent structure to their location….

Even though you are very aware of the presence of the huge Nuclear Power Station the area has the feel of untamed wilderness – I found it quite magical, though I imagine on a bleak grey winters day it would be quite desolate….

The vast pebble beach was littered with sea anglers fishing and barbequeing and though remote there are several cafes and a pub all doing a grand trade on this fine Saturday afternoon….

The road ends here (which seems very appropriate) and so it was a bit of a detour around to rejoin the coast at Jury’s Gap just beyond a Military Base of some sort and by the time we arrived the beach had gone!!!….

A little further down the coast we had hoped to visit Camber Sands where some beach remains below the dunes but every available parking space was either gone or had a height restriction so we shall either have to try and get back here early next week or save Camber sands to another time. As we started to head back to site we spotted this pretty scene with the dunes of Camber and a golf course on one side of the road and a picture perfect farm scene on the other….

A lovely day out and some lovely walks.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 100
  • Miles walked – 5
  • Groceries – £30
  • O/N – £11.10

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

Tuesday 2nd June 2026 – moving further north to Le Portel….

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Well this is not on – we awoke this morning to the pitter patter of rain, to be fair the BBC weather app has been telling me that it has been raining on and off for several days but even so. It did ease off just after 9 so we scurried out for a quick “essentials” walk and then loitered in the van until around 11.30 as we are not travelling far.

After a quick (final) trip to the supermarket, we drove the short distance to Le Portel a coastal town neighbouring Boulogne and were soon settled into our Aire for the next couple of nights. Mid afternoon the sun came out to play and though pretty blustery we set out for a nice walk along the coastal path which passes very close to the Aire. Heading south we were greeted with spectacular views towards Boulogne Port in the north and out towards the ruins of Fort de l’Heurt built on a rocky islet by Napoleon in the early 1800’s with the Germans adding an anti-aircraft platform to the top during WWII….

A lovely long stretch of white sandy beach running from below the centre of town to the Port of Boulogne….

The central part of the beach is not open to dogs from 1st May so instead of going down we continued along the coastal path passed the town to the unusual light house perched up high on the cliffs…

We continued along the coast a bit further but were getting quite battered by the winds so soon decided to make our return….

Taking a little wander through the tidy but fairly unremarkable village….

One thing that really struck a chord with us was this memorial to all those lost at sea from 1877 to 1995 – I’m not sure how many but way too many and many of them in their early teens. I couldn’t find anything out about it so not sure if they were all local but you could see incidences of 3 or 4 members of the same family being lost – so sad and reminiscent of the many memorials we have found on our travels around the UK coastline – RIP….

With the cobwebs well and truly blown away and our hunger peaking we retruned to the van for the evening.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 22
  • Miles walked – 5
  • Beaches – 1
  • Groceries – £29.43
  • O/N – £13.79

Saturday 4th April 2026 – a walk up to the Phare du Camarat….

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At the risk of sounding a little boring, it was yet another beautiful day here by Plage de Pampelonne….

All the big guns were out to play over the Easter weekend with various gin palaces arriving in the bay and shuttling over to the rather expensive and in some cases quite elitist beach restaurants and bars (though we are at the quieter end of the beach) and plenty of other craft scudding across the bay. I haven’t seen many people braving the rather chilly waters just plenty of paddlers like me and I’m not sure how good these waters are for swimming as the beach seems to shelve quite dramatically. Anyhow we spent a pleasant few hours on the beach just watching and in Tilly’s case, collecting driftwood and creating a little burrow to lie in, enjoying the cooler sand underneath, before returning to the van for something to eat and then heading back out in the cooler late afternoon sunshine for a walk up to Phare de Camarat….

It was a pleasant walk up a mostly leafy lane, having initially walked around the edge of rows and rows of vines….

It was lovely to be walking and surrounded by wild french lavender, though surprisingly not as fragrant as I would have expected….

Just beyond the lighthouse was a viewing point affording spectacular birdseye view of Bonne Terrasse and Plage de Camarat and then beyond to Plage de Pampelonne with snow capped mountains in the far distance – a truly beautiful and peaceful walk….

Today’s stats;

  • Miles walked – 7
  • Beaches – 2
  • O/N – £20