Yesterday, I walked from Herne Bay to Whitstable, filling the gap between two previous walks. I’ve now walked about 55 contiguous kilometres of Kent coastline and once I’ve a completed a longish walk in a week or two’s time, I will have walked from Faversham to Dover.
the same, only different
Monday’s walk didn’t spring any surprises, (apart from the number of people out on a weekday, I’d forgotten it’s Easter) and didn’t offer many exciting photo-ops, either. The sandy, suburban coastal scenery of Herne Bay gradually merged into the marshy shingle of Whitstable. Peppered along the way by ranks of gaily-painted beach huts, sometimes ranked three or four deep up the grassy banks. And all of it protected by the now familiar curvy concrete defences, topped by Tarmac.
it’s for your own good
One thing that strikes you, as you walk the coast in this part of England, is the preponderance of signs warming about such dangers as “slippery rocks” and “unfenced cliff tops”. It seems this is a particularly hazardous area and it’s a wonder humanity managed to survive around here, until the local authorities stepped in to guard us against ourselves.
However, on this walk, there seemed to be even more notices than the norm. Including signs which warned people not just about the many physical dangers that abound on this route, but even stepping into the area of moral guidance. Canterbury City Council providing my favourite sign, which, incidentally had been given something of a Scottish accent, by a vandal who’d removed one of the letter Ts from it, to read: “naturism is no condoned on this beach”. Perhaps it’s something to do with having an Archbishop in the city.
and the photos
The light was bright and washed-out by a hazy sky – so I had bright clouds and deep shadows to contend with. It was an east to west walk in the afternoon, which meant much of the time I was walking into the sun. You might say this shouldn’t pose a problem as it’s easy enough to take a photo away from the sun, simply by turning around. But the purpose of these galleries is to document the walks, the pathways and to me this means the photos should indicate the direction of travel. Perhaps it’s being more than a little OCD, but I believe the pathway is not simply a line, it’s a vector – and the photos should show this.
You can decide for yourself, take a look at the photos and you can download the actual route here.
posted on 3 April 2012
category: daily photo, pathways
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