Walking Schedule/Price
| Total Days * |
Walking Days |
Nights |
Price |
Extra Night |
| 6 |
4 |
5 |
Self-led £422-00** available all year |
£79-00**** |
| |
|
|
Guided £613-00 *** available all year |
£118-00 **** |
* Total
days include arrival and departure days.
** Price per person based on two people sharing - £19-00
single persons supplement per night
*** Guided tour price with minimum of 2 persons – single
person Guided supplement is £191-00
**** Two additional nights are required to extend tour beyond Deal and
back to Canterbury along the Stour Valley Trail – making a 6 day walk,
total 8 days and 7 nights circular walk. |
White Cliffs of Dover
 The White Cliffs of Dover are an evocative symbol
of Britain and this holiday offers the opportunity to walk along
the White Cliffs following the Saxon Shore Way and the White Cliffs
Country Trail. The White Cliffs were the first sign of home for travellers,
and are a reminder of the barrier that the English Channel has presented
to potential invaders during more recent times.
All Walk Awhile’s walking holidays include
breakfast, packed lunch, Tracker support, all the guide books, maps
and supporting literature you need for the duration of the holiday
as well as luggage transfer. Your Tracker is at the end of a mobile
phone should you run into problems. You meet your Tracker each morning
and Walk Awhile ensures that restaurants and pubs are open for food
in each village on the night of your stay. All you have to do is
the walking.
The Walk
This walk builds on part of the Discovering Rural
Kent Walk (i.e. Joseph Conrad's house, the Elham Valley and vineyard
but also allows Walk Awhile to accommodate walkers in Inns all along
the route. On the journey you pass Dover castle, the Western Heights
(Napoleonic fort), Caesars camp (an impressive Iron Age hill fort)
outside of Folkestone, Deal and Walmer (Henry VIII) castles. The
walk also passes the remains of a Knight's Templar church. An additional
2 nights take you onto the medieval Cinque Port of Sandwich and then
back to Canterbury and a third night can be included to allow time
to explore Canterbury.
Starting in Canterbury, the walk closely follows the meandering
course of the Nailbourne, passing the grounds of Bourne House and
Charlton Park, providing plenty of opportunity to explore the Elham
Valley. There is a chance to visit a local vineyard on the journey
and taste some local Kentish wine or enjoy a cream tea, before reaching
the beautiful village of Elham in the heart of the Elham Valley,
where you will rest for the night.
On the second day the walk joins the White Cliffs
near Folkestone, heading eastwards along the Saxon Shore Way and
onto the ancient sea port of Dover. The route takes you along the
coastal path on the top of the White Cliffs, with superb views across
the Channel to France. You will walk through Iron-age forts and around
Napoleonic defences that have all formed strategic defences over
the centuries. The journey ascends the 350 foot massive majestic
lump of chalk that rises from the shores of England overlooking the
English Channel. The white cliffs of Dover form the nearest point
of England to mainland Europe.
Historic Dover
At Dover the view from the summit eastwards, beyond
the harbour and the lower part of the town presents views of Dover
Castle and the English coast as far as the South Foreland. In the
other direction, Folkestone Harbour, seawards the busy shipping of
the English Channel and vies of Cap Grenez.
The route descends the Cliffs into St Margaret’s Bay, infamous
for its links with smuggling and then ascends back onto the Langdon
Cliffs, with time to enjoy the White Cliffs Visitor centre and climb
to the lamp in the South Foreland Lighthouse that kept ships away
from the treacherous Goodwin Sands.
The tour spends the last two days walking along the shoreline until
the ancient coastal town of Deal is reached, with time to visit its
coastal fortress built in the reign of Henry VIII. The following
morning the train can be taken from Deal back to Canterbury or onto
London Victoria.
Extend Your Holiday
Alternatively this holiday can be extended by a couple of days so
as to continue along the Saxon Shore Way and across East Kent before
heading west and back to Canterbury via the Stour Valley Trail. This
extended walk takes you further along the shoreline and across the
Royal St.Georges golf course into the historic town and Cinque Port
of Sandwich. Here one can explore the old town walls, follow the
Rope walk and the Butts before following the course of the River
Stour onto the Roman Gateway to Britain at Richborough castle and
the beginning of Watling Street
For those with plenty of energy, the final
day’s extension
to the White Cliffs Tour allows you to follow the Stour Valley Trail
through some of Kent’s best riverside scenery. You can enjoy
a drink at one of the riverside pubs; taking in the varied landscape
while spending the day returning along the banks of the Stour to
Canterbury.
Telephone:
01227 752762
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