This 8km stretch starts in Whitstable, takes in the harbour, Tankerton, Swalecliffe, Hampton Pier and Herne Bay.

Click map to zoom Click here for Multimap

History of the area

A corruption of the name of "Whitstable" was noted in the Saxon 7th-8th centuries. Its current spelling was founded in the 1600's, when the area was deemed to have 100 families living in it. A few key dates include:
1287 - A massive storm surge creates the coastline as it is now, wiping out a few small villages as it goes
1832 - The harbour is built by the Crab & Winkle Railway company
1865 - Hampton Pier constructed
1953 - Massive floods in the area cause havoc, breaching existing flood defenses, and beginning a rush to build some new ones
1962 - The sea freezes in a spectacular fashion
1963 - Whitstable gets its RNLI station

Whitstable - "The pearl of Kent" - is now probably best known for its oysters, and there are some quality restaurants and seafood markets here. The council website points out the "vibrant contemporary arts scene", but manages to overlook the soaring house prices due to London workers relocating to the pleasant coastal town. Needless to say it's causing some friction with the locals, who are being priced out the market.

Walking east past the harbour takes you to Tankerton - developed in the 1920's and 30's - then on to Swalecliffe - where there isn't much apart from a housing estate, the Long Rock promontory and Swalecliffe Brook. The coast then curves around to Hampton Pier and along to Herne Bay.

There are a range of sea defences on this stretch of coast, with groynes and sea walls predominating. Whitstable town centre is right in the flood plain and has some significant sea walls (with gates that can be opened in places), and a steep shingle beach with groynes. Tankerton has recently (2004) had new groynes installed, with more shingle added to the beach. Swalecliffe is currently looking a bit shafted, as in the 90 years following the construction of Hampton Pier, the coast retreated 175m due to a lack of sediment being transported round the coast. Lots of groynes and a new sea wall were put in (1958) and there's currently a review of new schemes by the council to prevent further erosion.

The walk

A short train journey to Whitstable, and the first leg of many began. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to bring the map, and spent half an hour wandering around the backstreets of town, without even the aid of the sun to work out where north, and hence the coast, was. It was now that the skies decided to open (despite having been sunny for the 40 minutes whilst I waited for the train) - but fortune finally smiled upon me in the form of a man-with-a-dog who pointed me in the right direction.