Ruth Livingstone
My book: Walking the English Coast
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Winfield’s Award
Killer Cows: Cattle Safety
Are more field exits a solution to escape from aggressive cattle?
Report: 1243 Date: 14/5/26 Location: The incident happened on the Dales Way. In the field between the railway line on Lambrook Beck and the Beck houses. This field is in the Dales Way between Sedbergh and Burneside. Rajiv’s post: We were walking on a public footpath on the Dales Way when our path was blocked […]
Cows and walkers – no dogs, but walks spoiled
We published a post recently about being careful while planning new walking routes for fear of meeting cattle Ensuring Safety on a Walking Holiday: Cattle Management – Cattle Safety . This fear is not unusual, and is well founded, we have hundreds of reports where walkers have been frightened or hurt. Below are three recent […]
Cyclist on bridleway threatened by cattle
Report number: 1244 Date: 15/5/26Location: Greywell Hill Estate. Nr Odiham Hampshire. ///reverses.motel.ambitions 1 person no dog Graham’s report: “I was following the bridleway on a bicycle. The cows were 50 yards away from me, I was moving away from them when they came running towards me. Aggressively charging me, pawing the ground with their hooves. […]
Category Archives: 05 Kent
48. Lydd to Rye to Rye Harbour
When I walk in, people stare at me. I wonder if they are looking at my boots, my jaunty little rucksack, or admiring my general air of health and wellbeing. After a very good lemon curd bun, I visit the loo and find out, by looking in the mirror, that my hair is sticking up on end and covered in sand. I look like a wild woman. Continue reading
47. Dungeness to Lydd
Buffeted by wind, and fighting for a foothold on the shingle, I continue onwards – disoriented and uneasy. I have the dangerous firing range on one side. A nuclear power plant on the other. A howling gale blowing behind me. And ahead is a protected nature reserve. Continue reading
Stage 46. Hythe to Lydd-on-Sea
I come across a warning sign.
“Caution non-ionising radiation. Do not loiter within 2 metres of any antenna.” I look back at the mast where I have just spent 10 minutes of ‘loitering’. A bit late to tell me now!
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Stage 45 Dover to Folkestone to Hythe
This is the best day of walking, ever. I start from Dover seafront. Looking out, across the little beach, through the mouth of the harbour, I can see the outline of France. It is clear and close. You could sail across and be there is a few minutes, or so it seems.
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Stage 44. St Margaret’s to Dover
The ‘path’ turns out to consist of footholds in a grassy bank. There is nowhere to rest. The slope is too steep to sit down. I am scrambling on all fours – looking for footholds and hand holds. The steep drop below, and the glimpses of bright sea even further below, add to a vertiginous sense of anxiety. I am reminded of skiing and that black slope moment of terror when you realise that you don’t want to go on, but you know you can’t stop.
Stage 43. Sandwich to Deal to St Margaret’s at Cliffe
This morning is warm and the sky clear, with a low haze. I leave Sandwich and head through a pleasant park, crossing the river and walking along the bank towards Sandwich Marina. Joggers pass me. A couple are out walking … Continue reading
Stage 42. North Foreland, Broadstairs, Ramsgate to Sandwich
It is warm and people are arriving on the promenade, opening up their beach huts and assembling chairs, tables and barbeques. People (this is an odd English custom) are erecting windbreaks – despite the fact there is no wind. I witness a few territorial skirmishes.
Stage 41. Birchington to Margate to North Foreland
Margate on a sizzling hot Good Friday. I am intrigued by the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital and pay a visit the Turner Contemporary. Hamish Fulton says ‘Walking is an art form in its own right, it does not have to be a lesser form of land art.’ Now, that is my kind of artist!
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Stage 40. Whitstable to Herne Bay to Birchington
Perhaps it is hunger, but I begin to have paranoid fancies. I imagine the pub full and no space to sit down. I imagine it has stopped serving food (it is now nearly 3pm). I imagine there are signs saying ‘no boots allowed’.
Stage 39. Faversham to Whitstable
I meet a man who is walking along the narrrow top of the wall, hands outstrectched for balance.
“I think you are forty years too old for that,” I say, smiling.
“I am letting my inner child out,” he replies.
And why not?
Ruth's Coastal Walk (UK) 