December Days Out

For the last few years, we’ve been making a Sunday outing with friends a highlight of our December. In the shortened days, it feels great to have a whole day out, getting as much of the daylight as there is available, eating food and having a good time with friends.

December 2018 saw us taking the train to London. Once there we got off at our first stop, King’s Cross, and enjoyed a gorgeous brunch at Caravan. A friend and I who had the same dish still speak of its deliciousness fondly. We went next to the hugely atmospheric London County Hall, wonderfully set up as a courtroom, for a matinee of the Agatha Christie classic ‘Witness for the Prosecution’. We emerged into the artificially lit dark and enjoyed street food at Southbank, then a night-time stroll down the Thames and back along the Strand, winding up with a final pint in a pub before catching the train home.

December 2019 - This day was gorgeously sunny and mild as we walked along the cliffs from St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe to Dover Castle. Not everyone wanted to do the escape room there, which at any rate could only take six at a time - so we staggered our walks and had two teams for the escape room. A further walk through sheepfields and we reached our final destination, a pub for a warming meal.

South Foreland lighthouse near St Margaret’s at Cliffe

Sadly, due to Covid December 2020 saw restrictions on meeting, even outdoors, so no day out that year. We did go up to the cliffs by ourselves on December 25th - it was a glorious day.

This year as much as another trip to London would have been marvellous, it did not seem sensible. By the time the day came around many theatres had had to cancel performances or close entirely due to occurrences of covid among the cast, amidst the Omicron bloom, so we definitely made the right choice in that respect. Maybe next year!

So December 2021 our outing was again outdoors and again cliff based! a hike from Capel le Ferne, down the cliffs via a steep zigzag path, slippery with both mud and fallen leaves. Partway down, a tree swing in the woods was a welcome find - we paused for a break there and the young (or young at heart) enjoyed swinging out over a gentle slope. There was thick mist on top of the cliffs and from above we could see nothing of the sea or the path below, but we dropped swiftly and when we came out of the woods partway down, we were under the mist, with a stunning view of the sea. The railway line sits here on a ledge and this entire section of cliff is actually an ancient landslide, which is why there is a slope rather than just a cliff face. On the link below you can see some photos of the area from above on a clear day.
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/case-studies/folkestone-warren-kent-landslide-case-study/

Looking back up to the top of the cliffs, still misty.

Light breaking through the clouds over the sea

Crossing the railway line gives a glimpse of both the mist above and sea below

Still further to go down to the sea level

A total colour shift from the russets, browns and greens of the woods to the white blue and grey down by the sea.

Once down on to the flat, the path continues alongside the sea up to a sandy beach, Wear Bay. This was a lovely little beach with some nice sea glass finds.

From the bay it was an uphill climb to get around the point and drop down to Folkestone. We walked around to the harbour arm where there are a variety of street food boxes - rather than queuing up you chose a table and could order and pay from it with your phone. Wait times were a little excessive and as the hike had taken longer than expected we were pretty hungry - but nothing that some soft shell crab in a bun or scallops with chips or woodfired pizza or curry couldn’t solve. And some mulled cider was a fabulous thing to wrap one’s chilled hands around and sip whilst waiting, rendering the wait tolerable. A thoroughly satisfactory day.

Arundel Castle Gardens

Teatime at Timberline