Friday 12th August 2016

No matter how long I slept, it was never going to be enough. My legs, back and arms ached, and I just needed a good walk. Just as well then that I had to take the hire car back, and decided after two 15 plus hour days, that I would take two hours off to walk back home. Seemed like a good idea.

And it was a glorious morning too, the sun was shining from a clear blue sky, and was already getting warm, so it should be good up on the cliffs.

Jools made me coffee while I grabbed a few extra zeds in bed, but the smell of the grinds being infused stirred me, so I got up and carefully came down the stairs. Jools was nearly ready for work, and I had an hour if I was to be at the car hire office when it opened.

As it turned out, I was at the office in the Eastern Docks at quarter past eight, but stuck behind a woman who took more than half an hour to accept that all was in order before she would take the keys for a car. I show them the keys, and are happy enough to accept it without checking the state of the car.

So I was free to leave, having dropped off a 40 grand car. Oh well.

I walked across the new expanse of tarmac and lovely new road markings to East Cliff, then up the path towards the cliffs.

A steep climb was still ahead.

Past the row of cottages at East Cliff, then on the narrow path beside the entrance to the docks, but that soon began to steeply climb, soon leaving the down behind, ad rising steeply above the light traffic.

Under Jubilee Way, and further up the cliff getting higher and higher and closer to the National Trust's place on the the cliffs.

For a Friday morning in mid-August, the port was quiet, so quiet I could snap the new road layout with no cars in shot.

And as I climbed higher, the vista opened out, with fine views of the Castle and back along the promenade in Dover with Shakespeare Cliff beyond.

It is amazing, that after walking above the busy port for a while, once the path reaches Langdon Hole and cliff, you leave the hustle and bustle behind, and it is just the walker and nature.

And all the other visitors of course.

It is a steep climb up from Jubilee Way, about 45 degrees steep, and looks like it gets steeper, but before it does, I take the path to the right, right to the edge of the cliff to pick up the lower path which will join up with the ramp to the Cliff Road. Away above me, I could see cars already parked up beside the entrance road to the site, but I press on, walking through a small copse before going through a swing gate and taking the path down onto the shelf created by the cliff railway over a century ago.

All along the path and onto the Cliff Road, the air was thick with Chalkhill Blues; I put the macro lens on, just in case I get the chance to snap one or two. And I am rewarded with two males too busy feeding on Scabious to notice me lurking getting ever closer for shots.

There are a few other people about, but I would rather walk in peace and quiet, so press on trying to get ahead of the group of people I see wondering which way to go. I take the short but steep path across Langdown Hole, joining up with the path on the steep climb up Langdown Cliff. I had bought a bottle of fresh orange juice which I told myself I would not open until I reached the top. So, I braced myself and powered up the steep slope, until right at the top I could look back to the Eastern Docks, and in the opposite direction the top of South Foreland light could be seen.

I throw myself to the turf, get out the chilled bottle of juice, and drink deep. Anyway, enough of this rest, I need to get back home to start work.

So I walk alng the deeply rutted paths to the start of Fan Bay where the deep shelter is, and this has increased footfall along the cliff path, meaning it is more eroded than ever. Instead of walking along the cliffs, I climb the five bar gate onto the old military road to take a short cut to the lighthouse.

It is downright hot now, and I just want to get home.

I walk the old road, now broken through 70 summers and winters, but it is easier than along the cliffs. A few skylarks are disturbed by my footsteps, but they are flying away before i can raise my camera. Past the lighthouse now, then taking the overgrown path through the overgrown wartime buildings, across another wheat field and finally into the village.

From there it is through the churchyard, pastt he village shop and the closed Red Lion, down Station Road to home. Just before eleven.

I find that I have missed a meeting I myself had arranged, getting the time difference wrong, this it ended just as I got online.

Bugger.

Anyway, I catch up on my mails, answer a few and then make calls to settle some issues.

And at half three, my eyes began to hurt once again, and I am struggling to stay awake. I think the weekend had arrived.

Jools had been shopping on the way home, so we feast on insalata caprese once again, I make some fresh potato bread and use up all the old cheese in it too, so we have a very tasty dinner indeed. I finish off the half bottle of red, which is just perfect, really.

We wait for darkness to fall, as we wanted to see the meteor shower, so sit in the back garden, me nursing a large malt, and above nature provides us with the fireworks. I see four meteors, the last one very bright, cutting the night sky in two.

With that, we call it a night.