An interlude - Capel-le-Ferne

A few days away in the caravan.  An interlude between all the jobs we need to do at home.  We are staying in a lovely holiday park, high up on the cliffs at Capel-le-Ferne.  No, we are not in France.

Capel-le-Ferne is a village by Folkestone, on the Dover Road and the Old Dover Road.  Now the village is bypassed by the A20 motorway, where the trucks thunder past on the way to and from the Port of Dover.   The name Capel-le- Ferne comes from the old northern French language and literally means 'chapel in the ferns'.

And according to the history site on Google there is a Norman church built in the 12th century.  It is redundant now but I must have a look for it tomorrow.

Our site amongst the verdant green of the lovely holiday park.

We went for a walk along a very narrow path on the top of the cliffs.  There were still blackberries on the vines which tasted quite delicious.

The view towards the East cliffs, and the three Martello Towers which were built between 1804 and 1809 as part of a line of defence along the coast.  All a little difficult to see in the photograph below.

The Battle of Britain memorial which was opened by the Queen Mother in 1993.

The last time I visited this area was in early summer 1993.  The A20 bypass had not been opened then and neither had the Battle of Britain memorial.  I remember driving up the hill on Dover Road, and turning off onto Old Dover Road towards the Clifftop Cafe where I parked the car.  I then joined a walking group tour.

I was very impressed with the scenery and the walk, which took in the clifftop path, the Warren, and finally, a climb back up the stairs which clung to the cliff face.  It has taken me 23 years to finally return to the area, which is ridiculous as Folkstone is only about a 90 minutes drive from home.

A view towards the cliffs and Warren Country Park on the left.   It was named Warren after the multitude of rabbit warrens there.

It was an exciting morning for many people who pointed out to us, the flotilla of Russian warships passing by in the distance.  They were on the way to Syria in to take control of Aleppo.  It was a chilling moment for me.

Unfortunately I missed taking a photograph of the warships, which were some distance away.  I think I can just see a black spot on the right hand side of the photograph below.

The sea defences were interesting; concrete blocks, a concrete apron, concrete steps and rocks constructed into all manner of shapes.  The limestone and chalk cliffs are very unstable.  

The concrete apron, in the photograph below, is wide enough and long enough to land an aeroplane on.  The white line is there to remind people to keep to the cliff side, as the tide comes up onto the concrete.

The Folkstone to Dover railway line, built in the 1840s, runs underneath the cliffs.  There used to be a railway station called Halt Station on the left of the concrete apron.  People liked to come here by train, walk over the railway bridge, and admire the ruggedness of the place.  However a large landside in 1915 destroyed the station.  Although it was rebuilt, it was finally closed in 1939 due to another landslide.  

Between the cliffs and the concrete there is a valley, which has its own micro climate, with trees and ferns growing profusely.  We did not venture there due to the paths being very uneven.  Instead we walked along another path in the direction of Folkstone and found it to be equally beautiful.

A view through the trees towards the port of Dover.

A view back towards the cliffs, with the Warren valley on the left.  There is a Camping and Caravaning Site on the shoreline.  A very picturesque place to camp but I think it would be a nightmare to tow a caravan down the steep narrow road in order to get to the site.

After lunch and a rest we drove towards Dover to visit Samphire Hoe, so named by a woman in 1994, who won the competition to name the new area.  'Samphire', a plant grown along the seafront here, and used to be pickled and sent to London to be served as a side dish to meat.   'Hoe' is a piece of land which sticks out into the sea.  All very appropriate to the area.

Samphire Hoe was made with nearly five million cubic metres of Chalk Marl, which was taken from under the channel, as they were tunnelling to build the Channel Tunnel.  The rest of the Chalk Marl went to France.

The Chalk Marl infill extended the land out from the cliffs.  The ground was landscaped to make small hills and ponds.   The area was sown with grasses and wildflowers.   There is a considerable amount of wildlife here now and new plants are springing up.  Unfortunately I did not take any photographs of the landscaped area.

Other aspects of Samphire Hoe seemed to be attracting my attention, such as the train coming out of the tunnel.

The sea was very calm, and the sun behind the clouds, but still shining on the water, was very effective.

The area used to be called Shakespeare Cliff.  In 1843 part of the cliff was blown away, to allow room for the railway lines.  The blowing away of the cliff caused quite a bit of excitment with local people.

In the 1880s tunnelling was started from the cliffs with the aim of building a tunnel between England and France. After 2000 yards it was stopped, due to either running out of money or concern that the French may invade Great Britain.

There were also coal mines in the area in the late 1800s but they did not produce good quality coal so were disbanded in 1921.

The huge sea defences, great for walking on, and for fishing from, in good weather, but deadly during storms.  There are plenty of warning signs, which I guess people ignore, as there are many casualities along the shores of Great Britain, during storms.

The narrow tunnel which separates Samphire Hoe from the A20.

The area from Folkstone to Dover is steeped in history, with beautiful walks and spectacular scenery.   Such a beautiful place to visit.

According to my watch I walked 9 kms, 12,270 steps and burnt 516 calories.  Walter said that his watch gave him more steps and more calories burnt.  A little competition there, I think.  But an impressive day, all the same.

We celebrated by eating dinner at a local restaurant and ate far more calories than we burnt off.  Oh well.