Day 176: New Romney to Capel-le-Fern

Best bits: universe aligning and spending time with Sally and David

Worst bits: feeling a little cold this morning

Distance: 16.2 miles

Well today the universe aligned for me. It started normally enough by getting the bus back to New Romney which was a 45 minute journey. The bus actually took me beyond New Romney which is inland to Littlestone-on-Sea which was where I left the coast yesterday, saving me the extra mile.

The weather was much cooler than yesterday and overcast which was not great for photos. The sea looked grey and blended with the grey of the sky and I couldn’t see the white cliffs from yesterday. I actually felt cold for much of the morning even though I was walking quickly.

The first thing of note was the brick built water tower which was standing proud in all its glory.

Apparently, Martello towers, small defensive forts, will be the major items for today’s walk. The first one I came across was under some form of refurbishment.

I then had to walk around another pesky MOD firing range with red flags flying. This one seemed to go on for absolutely ages.

I chatted to Karen, Kevin, Jade and Peter who are doing a cycling tour of the area. They were very excited to learn about my trek and were interested in finding me when I make it to Norfolk.

After about 10 miles, I called into the Café on the Beach at Hythe for lunch. The staff there Belle, Alice and Vicky, along with the food were excellent. I had a CAT bagel which was yummy. Vicky had also lost a partner and was able to empathise with me. I gave them hearts and they gave me one in return which I will put in Priscilla ♥️

I was just about to leave when the ladies at a table read the back of my jacket and asked me about it. These were the Bollywood Blast dancers and what a lovey lot they were.

I then power walked back to Priscilla because it was a bit chilly and I was desperate to get another layer on.

As I was approaching Priscilla, I could see two people looking at the van and then they went to get into their car that was parked next to it. All of a sudden, the woman came up to me arms widespread. It was my friend Sally how unbelievable I was gobsmacked. They were in a rush to hand back the keys of their house they were moving out of, but we arranged to meet up a couple of hours later.

I couldn’t believe it and was astounded for the rest of the afternoon’s walk. I continued along the promenade into Folkestone passing many colourful beach huts. Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.

There are some heavy industrial vehicles moving the shingles around on the beach. This must be a never ending job. I traversed the boardwalk over the shingles.

Then I walked along the side of the harbour before climbing up to another Martello tower. It was then a stiff walk up to the Battle of Britain memorial. The statue of a pilot looks out to sea.

There were also replicas of a spitfire and hurricane along with a sculpture of a crashed Stuka.

I caught the bus back to Priscilla in time to meet Sally and David.

What amazing coincidence that Sally and David were staying in an Airbnb in the same street and Sally had seen Priscilla that morning. If Asda’s car park wasn’t multi story, if I hadn’t been using public transport and I wasn’t slightly ahead of schedule etc…… we wouldn’t have met. Yet here we were! As my friend Sue would say the universe had aligned perfectly.

Sally fed me and I had a bath! What a treat. We then chatted about so many things, catching up on the last few years.

David asked me some interesting questions including: what have I learned about myself and where do I think Angela is? I will ponder on those and give me thoughts in a later post.

We said goodbye, but not for long as Sally is going to collect me from Dover tomorrow and take me back to my start point.

I then drove to Asda at Dover where Tony and the team looked after me.