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| Margate and Broadstairs 6.9.03 |
| This Saturday saw me catching a train to Broadstairs in search of my English ancestry. As Margate was on the train route, I thought I'd hop off and take a look - I won't be making that mistake again! Margate was your typical dead and tacky English seaside, amusement arcades lined the streets facing the beach, the sand was stony and dirty and half the shops were shut and boarded up. But hey, you gotta try these things out. |
| I did, however, find some great fish and chips served by a jovial and lovely man at Montgomeries traditional pie and mash so it wasn't a complete waste! I high-tailed it back to the station and made the 5 minute trip to Broadstairs - what a different story that town is! Broadstairs still holds the magic of what I imagine the old English seaside to be. The promenade was full of mostly older travellers enjoying their amble & a crooner sang Sinatra songs that reached both ends of town. |
| The beach looked serene, fun and quaint at the same time. Little beach sheds lined up in two storeys dotted the cliff, sailing boats dotted the horizon and even the fun park equipment didn't look too out of place here... There was only one amusement arcade and it was nicely tucked away. The streets I walked twisted and turned and you could find secret squares and ambling stone walls. I walked around enjoying this town for hours, taking pictures of ancestral houses as I went, before following the coast up to the North Foreland Lighthouse, another ancestral place. By the time I got there, I felt my legs were going to fall off with all the walking I had done, but I still managed to climb the steps to the top. |
| After admiring the view and chatting to the volunteers taking the tours, I headed back to Broadstairs, taking the more direct route this time. Despite the pain in my body from walking 4.5 hours non stop, I made it to St Peters, west of Broadstairs and spent an hour in the rain searching for ancestral graves, with only one being found. Tired, aching all over and itching from the nasty plants in the overgrown cemetery, but really kind of happy, I trudged back towards Broadstairs and the train station, thinking I would drop at any second, and 7 hours after stepping off the train, I finally stopped walking and fell into a heap on the bench awaiting the longish journey back to London. |
| Margate Beach, you can just see a lifesavers flag on the right hand side! |
| Looking back at the buildings from the beach, you can see what it once may have been |
| Margate - gorgeous buildings... that's right, amusement arcades! |
| Broadstairs beach, see the two storeys of beach sheds lining the cliff... |
| Outside Charles Dicken's house in Broadstairs |
| Views of the white cliffs on my walk up to the lighthouse |
| At the lighthouse where my ancestors were born... |
| Made it to the top of the lighthouse (I know its little, but I was buggered) |