May 3. Just Herne Bay

 Seems we're still not over our jet lag - woke at at nearly 10am today. Fortunately, we didn't have anything planned for the day and we ended up just going in to the town centre to the supermarket. At least Lynn did - I got out and walked back along the seafront.

So with nothing else to write abut, this might be a good time for a quick orientation. Kent is in the south east corner of England, below London. Herne Bay is on the north side of the county, kind of on the wide estuary mouth of the Thames. In the sea to the north you can see a windfarm and, on clear days, Maunsell forts - defensive structures like a small oil rig built in World War II. The next town west is Whistable - a small and pretty town famous (within the UK) for oysters and very busy with day trippers on weekends and any sunny day.

Herne Bay itself is also a bit of a holiday town. Certainly it has amusements on and around the pier etc. But like most of these places the area around it is filling up with new developments for people working locally or commuting into London. Lynn's family, the Harrises, live on eastern edge and only a hundred metres or so back from the sea cliffs. Further east is Reculver, where I visited the church ruins and roman fort remains a few days ago. It's also where the bouncing bomb was tested.

So my walk first took me past the pier. This was packed with people and attractions. It used to be very long, but much of it fell down in a storm 50 years ago and the tip is stuck out in the sea.

Herne Bay Pier

Cut-off Pier End

Then I walked further, past all the weekend day trippers eating fish and chips from cardboard boxes. There is one of the first stand-alone clock towers built on the foreshore.

Clock Tower and Seafront, low tide

Once past the end of the town centre there are cliffs backed by the suburbs, with periodic paths up and down.