Only me and Pete this time. Dave has grandchild duties. We get the train to Whitstable via Faversham and begin the day with a nice coffee at the Grain and Hearth. After that it's straight down to the harbour and basically all along the coast to Birchington. It was a fine day. Blue skies and fairly mild. We saw plenty of birds: Turnstone, Oystercatchers, Redshank, Knot, Sanderling, Cormorant, Brent Geese. Also a Marsh Harrier and possibly a Purple Sandpiper. Plenty of people walking dogs. I was knocked over from a Staffie who was running around on the path with his pal. Knocked me right over. Its owners hardly apologised. The sea was perfectly calm and we had fine views out to sea. When we reached Herne Bay we had a read about its famous pier and about Amy Johnson. She was the first woman to fly solo from the UK to Australia in 1930. In 1941 she bailed out over the Thames Estuary and was killed. There is a statue of her on the front at Herne Bay. Herne Bay has had 3 piers: the first was built in 1832, replaced in 1873 which in turn was replaced in 1899. The pier was 3000' long with a head where paddle steamers could tie up. The first pier had a sail powered tracked vehicle to take passengers and luggage to & from the ship to shore. The 2nd pier was too short to allow steamers to berth. The 3rd pier was again long at 3700'. The second longest in England. The Paddle Steamer 'Medway Queen' used the pier until 1963. Apparently I once went on a trip on this ship over to Southend and back: I would have been 5 yrs old or so. The pier was damaged by storms in 1978 and 1979, and then mostly broken down in 1980. The head of the pier still remains out at sea. From Herne Bay we walked to Reculver. We could see the remains of St. Mary's Church the whole way. Famously the Romans built a fort here at the entrance of the Wantsum Channel when the Isle of Thanet was a true island. Later a monastery was established and King Eadberht of Kent is buried here. We had a pint in the KIng Ethelbert pub here too. It clouded over now and the wind picked up as we walked past the remains of the church and beside the marshy boggy area of what was once the Wantsum Channel. There are footpaths through and around this area and it may be worth returning as it is known for its range of insect wildlife as well as migrating birds. Eventually we arrived at Minnis Bay where I could reflect on many happy days spent on the beach as a child in those days of long, hot, always sunny summers. The sea here is very shallow (hence the long pier required at Herne Bay). It's great for children and it warms up quickly. Might also be saltier for buoyancy too. Plus when the tide is out you have expanses of hard sand good for football and cricket. And the sunsets and long evenings are exceptional. Finally we walked through Minnis Bay to Birchington and found the Seaview Pub near the railway station. In the garden is an arch formed from the ribs of a whale which beached in Minnis Bay in 1919. It doesn't say what type of whale it was. We finished off the day with a couple of pints at the Elephant in Faversham.