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I’ve been meaning to go back to Ely ever since I walked there a month or so ago but arrived after dark. Well I finally did this weekend and went inside the cathedral, and very impressive it is too!

It seems a bit silly having enormous cathedral in such a tiny town (one of England’s smallest). You can see it from miles around too owing to the fens being completely flat. The entrance ticket is a pretty reasonable £8.50: take that, York Minster!

It was my birthday last weekend so we took my niece for her first ever trip on the Romney, Hythe, and Dymchurch railway which has been feature multiple times previously on this blog.

The train is indeed minature

It rained a lot in the morning but still a great day out. And I found something interesting! Here we see an earlier version of your correspondent standing next to engine number 12 in the distant past:

Around 1988 ish

And in exactly the same location, here’s number 12 again! (It’s the same engine, I asked, they just painted it black at some point.)

2022, note the platform refurbishment

Another surprise relocation! I’ve moved to Cambridge after being turfed out of my parents’ home. Earlier this month I set off northwards on an initial exploration towards the city of Ely.

I ended up doing this over two days due to illness (not covid) but still I somehow didn’t manage to arrive in Ely until after dark so I didn’t really see anything of England’s third smallest city.

Oh, how flat and featureless the fens are! Flat terrain can sometimes be interesting to walk through if there’s some navigation challenges or other obstacles (see my recent adventures on the Romney marsh) but as I was along this river for most of the journey the middle section after leaving Cambridge was really boring. The scenery picked up a little bit towards the end though when I could see Ely cathedral in the distance from miles away.

I went for another walk along the Kent coast a few weeks ago, this time around the back of Folkestone near the Channel Tunnel and on to Dover.

Channel Tunnel terminal

I thought maybe I’d get a good view of the tunnel entrance from the hills above but it wasn’t as impressive as I’d imagined. Back when it first opened there was an exhibition centre somewhere around here but it must have been demolished.

A precipitous drop near Dover

The section of cliff-top path between Folkestone and Dover was awesome, I’ll give it 9/10 for walking experience. Dover itself doesn’t seem to have a lot worth visiting except the castle and the port. I dimly remember a family trip to the castle, but might warrant a repeat visit.

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I went for a walk last weekend near Folkestone and to my surprise I discovered a castle!

It’s Saltwood castle and is, somewhat incredibly, someone’s private residence so you can’t go inside which is a shame.

A little walk I did recently along the South Downs Way near Eastbourne.

Nothing really remarkable happened but I got free tea and cake from a church (thanks Jesus!) and the scenery was nice. I missed these open chalk downlands.

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As promised I went out to explore the nearby wind farm and in doing so made another crossing of the Romney marsh!

The place is called Little Cheyne Court wind farm and it was built in 2008 after a lot of local opposition. There’s a public footpath running right through it so you can get up really close to the turbines. It’s actually pretty scary standing underneath them with the blades spinning.

After that I plodded over the marsh to Dymchurch. Dymchurch is lovely! It’s a very stereotypical slightly-tacky British seaside resort, like a time capsule from the 60s or 70s. I had a 99 with a flake from an ice cream van, it was wonderful.

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The highest point in Hastings is called North’s Seat and is actually just behind my old secondary school. I walked up there a few weekends ago to have a look around.

The phone mast at the top

On the summit now there’s only this huge communications antenna but apparently there used to be a lookout post and a gibbet!

Some cow parsley (?) I saw on the way down

View across the Romney Marsh

In the distance we can see a wind farm: what else could be hidden there?! Stay tuned, I’m going to explore it tomorrow.

Last Friday was “Day of Care” at work so I decided to head out for an adventure to the wastelands of Romney Marsh.

The marsh is a large area of reclaimed land in Kent. As you might expect it’s very flat and perhaps not the most interesting terrain for walking.

Studying the map beforehand I knew I had to pay a visit to “Sheaty Sewer”, and this wooden bridge over a foetid open sewer vastly exceeded my expectations! (I think “sewer” might mean irrigation channel locally.)

Sheaty sewer

Below is the 800 year old church at St Mary in the Marsh. The church is open to look around during the day.

Church at St Mary in the Marsh

Towards the end I arrived at one of my favourite places, Dungeness! Not only is there a mini train and a lighthouse, there’s not one but two nuclear power plants! I discovered a path between them and the sea. It was very exciting. Below is Dungeness A, the older one, which is being decommissioned now but Dungeness B is still operating.

Dungeness A

A somewhat uneventful walk from Rye to Battle, the site of the battle of Hastings no less. Here’s the river Tillingham just outside Rye.

One thing I’ve noticed down here is that footpaths are not nearly as well signposted as they were back up in Oxfordshire. I got lost quite often, including walking in a big circle at one point. Maybe my navigation just sucks now.