On the Road Again!

A short ride out today for Meldrews' Sunday. Destination was Dungeness Railway Station. I decided not to take the usual A259 route along the coast to New Romney and onto Dungeness. Instead I went off piste and tried the probably aptly named Swamp Road from Old Romney  to Lydd. The swamp, if there was one, has been drained and it now forms part of Romney Marsh. A flat area with many "drains" that firm similar terrain to the polders in the Netherlands.  There were only two of us for a coffee and a chat. The ride back was across the marsh to Dymchurch and home. I went back towards Ivychurch and then followed the signs to Hythe.   There are so many concrete slab roads across the marsh.  And these offer more grip than the tarmac ones.  Oddly though, the grass and weeds growing between the cracks is far less obtrusive than the two foot wide moss and weed in the centre of the tarmac sections! When you have a weed and moss section and an open drain/ditch right alon...

One of the landmarks in Hythe is the Royal Military Canal . It was built as a form of defence for Romney Marsh in case of an invasion by the French under the command of Bonaparte. The marsh could be flooded but once an invasion began it would take too long to flood it. So a water filled ditch seemed like a great idea. And over 200 years later it is still there. Over the years Hythe has gone from one of the original " Cinque Ports " (court language at the time was French!) to being around half a mile from the coast.  This caused by silting up of the English side of the Channel and what they call "withdrawing of the sea". We walk a section every night with the dog.   The "town" sections on each side are paved but other sections are gravel and often simply grass.   It is still possible to see that the northern bank still has the higher frontage and the military road behind is effectively sunken and would allow troops of the day to move relatively ...

I have only lived here since 1999. We have a nice little town.  Once the town was on the coast directly but over the years our side of the Channel silted up. Resulting in the capital of the "Cinque Ports" becoming further from the sea itself. We still have a beach and a promenade but they are further from the town centre. In the photo is the Royal Military Canal. Built in case Napoleon invaded and to be used as a moat to delay and stop the invaders. They never came and the canal is a national monument. http://cinqueports.org http://www.royalmilitarycanal.com/pages/index.asp

     Trip to have a look at the pier at Deal. This is the new wooden building at the end of the pier that has been open since Novermber 2008. It was opened by the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports . http://www.dealpier.com/