Royal Military Canal Walk 8  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 River Rother at high tide
The walk started from Rye and took the path north from the main road alongside the Rother. As the tide was high and the river is tidal at this point, our first challenge was getting under the railway bridge with dry feet! Neither of us succeeded, but it didn’t matter too much as the day was dry and warm, although with a cool breeze. The walk along the flood bank was easy and enjoyable, with frequent views of cormorants and little egrets fishing along the river.
We walked along the river as far as Scots Float, where there is a large sluice gate designed to stop tidal surges causing flooding inland, and also to allow excess water to be drained from the canal. There had been so little rain in the south east during late summer that many of the drainage ditches were actually completely dry.
 Guldeford Levels In truth, the Guldeford Levels don’t provide the most inspiring walking, but the wildlife provided diversions, with frequent sightings of Clouded Yellow butterflies. Once past Moneypenny Farm, we found a nice sheltered spot by one of the drainage ditches to stop for lunch. These ditches hold one of the strongest populations of medicinal leeches in Europe, although at one time the numbers were under threat due to over-collection. In the 1830s, the hospitals in London used over 7 million leeches a year for blood-letting.
After lunch we headed for Camber, all the while looking out for the remains of Lookers’ Huts – the old shelters used by the Lookers who were employed by local farmers to watch over their sheep – but we only saw a sad-looking caravan.
Once we arrived at Camber we faced an interesting challenge in finding our way through the huge caravan park to reach the seafront. Eventually we gave up trying to find the footpath and just followed the roads to the front entrance, leaving via the shop (with ice creams, result).
The beach at Camber is long, sandy and very popular with local holidaymakers. Today, however, had turned overcast and most people were wrapped up against the cool breeze. Because the landscape is so flat, it is possible to take impressive “big sky” pictures, although today it was difficult judging the correct exposure to produce dramatic images.  Low Tide at Camber Sands  Moody sky at Camber Sands
After walking along the beach and a short exploration of the sand dunes, we headed back up the River Rother towards Rye. The complete walk was about 10 miles and a bit of a mixed bag, but at the end of the day it was good to have views of the beautiful old town of Rye in sight as we returned to our starting point.
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