Ruth Livingstone
My book: Walking the English Coast
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Winfield’s Award
Killer Cows: Cattle Safety
It could have ended so badly near Speaks Mill, Hartland
Incident number: 1269 Response ID: 329,908,514 Date of incident: March 3rd 2026 Location: Hartland near Speaks Mill on the SW coastal path Status: Group of walkers with two dogs on a lead on PRoW Dani’s story “Walking along the SW coastal path following an All Trails app trail when we come to a gate with […]
Dodford footpath leading to Bournheath – walker cornered by a mixed herd
Incident number: 1266 Response ID: 329,840,622 Date of incident: 18.06.26 Location: Field adjacent to top of Yarnold Lane, Dodford leading across to Bournheath ( to right hand side as driving out of Dodford Status: Lone walker with dogs on lead onPRoW Sarah’s Story “The cattle approached (they were a mixed herd of Charolais, Hereford, friesian […]
Trapped by cattle on weavers way near Halvergate
Incident number: 1264 Response ID: 329,834,345 Date of incident: 10.06.26 Location: On the Weavers Way footpath, between Stone Road, Halvergate and Berney Arms, shortly before the railway line. Status: Lone walker with no dog on PRoW RW’s story “I was walking on the path across the marshes, following the Weavers Way path. A group of […]
Tag Archives: hiking
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 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?
Stage 38. Teynham to Faversham
The light, the water, the mist, the stillness, the clarity of the near distance, the obscurity of the far horizon – so magical. I have never experienced anything like this before. Then I notice a strange sound. It is gun fire. Continue reading
Stage 34. Hoo St Warburgh to Rochester
My path winds around the edge of an industrial area. There is the usual assortment of unfriendly notices, telling me to “Keep Out”, “Beware, Guard Dogs”, “CCTV in operation” and, while I’m at it, “No parking”. Bizarrely, I spot a submarine in the river. It is badly rusted and listing to one side. I am suprised to see a hammer and sickle on the turret. Continue reading
Stage 32. Egypt’s Bay to Allhallows-on-Sea
I have lost the path. I struggle through brambles and long grass, then across boggy marshland intersected by water filled ditches. As I jump across a ditch, landing on a bed of flattened grass and reeds, something long and thick slithers away from close to my left foot. It is a snake.
Stage 31. Gravesend to Egypt Bay
During this walk of Great Expectations, I pass through Dicken’s wet and marshy countryside, encounter two old forts, a sunken schooner, the launch site of an ancient torpedo and stumble through the marshlands of the Hoo Peninsula. Continue reading
30 (cont): Tilbury to Gravesend
The light is fading. In my walking boots, and with my rucksack and poles, I stick out like a sore thumb. I do not belong in this area …..
Continue reading
30. Fobbing to Tilbury
“Or, if you walk into the village, you may be able to catch a bus.”
“I am not allowed to travel by bus,” I tell him.
If he thinks this is a little odd, he is too polite to say so.
Continue reading
29. Southend to Basildon to Fobbing
I hesitate outside the dark mouth of the gloomy alleyway. For the first time on my whole journey, I feel very uneasy. I am not concerned about tides, or mud, or even snakes. It is the thought of ….. Continue reading
Ruth's Coastal Walk (UK) 