North Downs Way: Folkestone to Dover
I left my friends house and got the train to Dover, refusing an offer of a sandwich for lunch, I intended to get some lunch from one of the cafes along the route. It was another bright and sunny day, though it was still a little cold in the morning. It did not take long to get to the previous days finishing point, though it took a little time to orientate myself to the correct path, which took a steep track to the tops of the chalk ridge. There were great views of Folkestone and of the route ahead, I only had about 7 miles/12 km or so to do and set off.
The way continued the ridge following the road that was on the other side of a fence, it continued for around 2km before crossing a busy road, after which it reached the cliffs that form Folkestone Warren. Folkestone Warren was formed by numerous landslides and is around 3 km long, though a railway still runs along it's base. It is now a nature reserve and an SSSI. A few 100 metres along the ridge is the Battle of Britain Memorial, which was opened in 1993, featuring Spitfire and Hurricane replicas and a wall containing the names of all the pilots who took part in the battle. The centre piece of the memorial is a large sculpture of a pilot, with no indication of rank.
There was a cafe open at the memorial site though I decided to push on and set something to eat at the next one, a decision I was going to regret. I continued along the edge of the Warren, treading carefully as the path was often close to the edge and a trip could be fatal. Once the end of the Warren is reached, there is another cafe, which was unfortunately shut, I was getting quite hungry now and regretted not taking the sandwich my friend had offered. I sat down and ate the remains of a packet of roasted peanuts, it was pleasant in to sit in the sun, but I pushed as I wanted to get to Dover and get something to eat.
A little further on a large concrete structure came into view, another link to the 2nd world war, an early form of radar, known as a sound mirror. There are a lot of reminders of the war along this stretch of the including many pill boxes, though I supposed the whole area has historically been important in the defence of the nation. There are many forts, castles and towers along the coast and more were added during the last world war. An older version is Dover Castle which could now be seen in the distance, though it's keep and walls were easy to make out.
A little further on there was a footbridge crossing the A20 which I made my way across finding myself on the edge of a housing estate. I'd taken the wrong way, the route had been changed to use a new underpass further on, it was easy to walk though the estate and hook up with the correct route, which headed slowly up to the Western Heights, a defense area above Dover. After passing the remains of a Templar church I had a brief look around the Drop Redoubt, which dated from 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars. There were a lot of people around the Western Heights, some doing maintenance work on the Drop Redoubt and others visiting the Western Heights.
It was a short steep descent from the Western Heights down a couple of flights of steps, and from there a short walk to the sea front where the official end or start of the walk is found. This comprises an 8 metre granite memorial and a memorial plaque, both being set into the pavement, this was a new feature, previously the end of the route had been at the town market place (I think). I was glad to have gotten to the end of walk, I'd been lucky for many of the days, the weather had been good for a lot of the time with glorious sunny winter days. The only downside had been the state of the paths after heavy rains, but this was a minor burden to bear and I'd enjoyed the walk. I was still not finished though as there was still the last leg which for me would be from Dover back to Boughton Lees via Canterbury.
Feeling hungry I headed off looking for somewhere to eat and found a traditional British cafe open, where I had a well needed meal before heading off to the station. There was a little wait for the train so I headed across the road for a drink whilst waiting to get the train.