Wildmoor Heath  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Follow the hedgehog To be honest a map wasn’t really required for this walk, as it was just a matter of following the Saxon Shore Way, although in places the signposts were not altogether clear, but at no time was it not really obvious where we should be going. We caught the 10.01 train from Sandwich which had us in Folkestone just after 10.30 on a morning where the pavements of Folkestone showed there had obviously been a heavy shower of rain recently, so we really hoped the forecast for it to improve during the day was accurate. The first thing we had to do was find our way through the town making our way down to the Harbour along to the cliffs at the Warren. This walk in itself was almost two miles but our first view of the cliffs showed us exactly were we would be heading for the rest of the day.  Bobs Seafood  Folkestone from the clifftop
A few years ago we had walked along from the Warren and knew there was a footpath that crossed over the railway line and headed up a steep but nicely graded path up to the top of the cliffs. The footpath passed through an area completely covered in Buddleia bushes.
Once up on the top of the cliffs the cool breeze became more obvious, but it was still very warm and every now and again the weather threatened to brighten up. Sometimes the path passed quite closed to the edge of the cliffs allowing some good views either back towards Folkestone or along the cliffs in the direction we were walking. About half way through our ten-mile walk we started to look for a likely spot to eat our lunch and pretty soon an obvious spot came into view. We had no idea that along this cliff top was a sound mirror. Sound mirrors were developed as an early warning system for enemy aircraft. Incoming sounds were focused at various points on the mirror’s surface and sounds were conveyed via a trumpet-shaped collecting device to a stethoscope worn by the listener. The invention of radar in the 1930s led the abandonment of acoustic early warning systems before the start of the 2nd World War, but there are some nice examples around the Kent coast still. We had seen one near Hythe last year during our series of walks along the Royal Military Canal. I remember at the time it was quite frustrating that we couldn’t get very close at the time as I wanted a closer look. I never expected to see one here today. It always seems such a shame that someone feels the need to cover things such as this in graffiti. It really spoils the look of it but a bit of Photoshop helped me to show what it would look like without.  Sound mirror  Sound mirror with a bit of Photoshop magic
Following lunch it was a case of best foot forward as there were still five miles to go, although for the most part it was easy walking. At last too the promised sun began to break through the clouds and as soon as it began to shine the butterflies came out in force. There did seem to be a lot of different species: as well as the ones you would expect to find here I also caught a glimpse of a Wall Butterfly, the only one I’ve seen this year. I managed a quick shot of it before it disappeared. It’s never easy getting pictures of butterflies when it’s windy like it was today. Before long we realised we must be above Samphire Hoe, the area of land that was created from the spoil when the Channel Tunnel was excavated. It wasn’t easy to get a very good view but now and again I would go off the path towards the edge of the cliff and eventually I managed to get a good view of the spit of land below. It’s here that huge numbers of Early Spider Orchids grow, as well as on the cliffs where we have been walking. They flower in early April. The sun finally broke through the clouds just as we reached the top of Shakespeare Cliff. As it afforded such a fabulous viewpoint we stopped here for quite a while looking down on the harbour below us. There is often a Cruise ship docked at the Western Docks, sadly today there wasn’t one. As lovely as it was sitting in the sun on top of the cliff we still had a couple of miles to go and we also had to work out just how we would be getting to the railway station too. Thankfully there was a subway under the busy A20 coming out of Dover and soon we were climbing again, up onto an area known as The Western Heights. This area was part of a huge programme of fortification against Napoleon’s planned invasion of the United Kingdom. The fortifications comprise a series of forts and ditches; they were created to augment the existing defences and protect the key port of Dover from both seaward and landward attack.  Approaching Dover  Harbour from Shakepeare Cliff
Knowing there is only one train an hour on a Sunday we had time to stop for a much needed drink in the pub before getting our train back to Sandwich. I really don’t know why we have never done this section of the coastal path before now as it turned out to be very interesting and as always it’s great to see places we have never walked before.
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