Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
Hello.
Looking for those who has walked from St. Margaret's to Langdon and back.
I am looking to do the walk myself, yet heard people had to be rescued on this path.
Is it really as hard and difficult, or was bad timing to blame?
How long it takes one way and how low does the tide have to be to walk?
Thank you
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
advisable not to walk along the tidal line due to cliff falls etc.tide is usaly out for 4 hours check tide times if you do go that way.
better to walk the cliff path ways.
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Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Mr Dixon is right DO NOT WALK that way a long the top of cliff is better but keep to the paths .
Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
I got the 'do not walk' comment now, but what's the reason behind? Would be way more informative to know others' experience than learn myself by trial and error.
I've walked the top of the cliffs but I'm interested in the Langdon bay itself and the wrecks.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Karlos- Location: Dover
- Registered: 1 Oct 2012
- Posts: 2,528
The cliff has washed away at the bottom of Langdon steps, so there's no access to the beach anymore (the last I heard).
Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
Howard, thank you for he links. However, they are about children who did not check the tides or were led by crazy people. I am not 15 not religious so more in a smarter side.
Reginald Barrington
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,252
AndraZar wrote:Hello.
Looking for those who has walked from St. Margaret's to Langdon and back.
I am looking to do the walk myself, yet heard people had to be rescued on this path.
Is it really as hard and difficult, or was bad timing to blame?
How long it takes one way and how low does the tide have to be to walk?
Thank you
The problems of doing this walk are primarily bad timing due to tide, the headland below pines tea gardens gets cut off earlier than the rest of the route, parts of the route are incredibly treachorous underfoot [(wet chalk and seaweed very slippy) a twisted ankle, broken bone would make it a rescue]
There is also a huge cliff fall to negotiate just before Langdon bay, look on Google earth.
Cliff falls are a constant concern, if you are fit and healthy and don't have any accidents you can do the walk comfortably in an hour to an hour and a half each way.
Personally I would recommend not to do it, but I also know my own abilities and would not heed my own advice, if you do go good luck and enjoy it.
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Arte et Marte
Button
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,050
Take a mobile phone. As you are already aware, the only way out is back to St Margarets.
(Not my real name.)
Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
Thank you, this was by far the most informative response, especially for the timing and terrain. It takes me less than an hour to walk the cliff path so I couldn't imagine how long can it take on the coast, yet many people led me to believe it's 3 or 4 hours, which did sound unreasonable in your twenties.
I would like not to do it but I became obsessed since I found the cliff path to reach the unreachable, and every photo of he ship wrecks are like a personal insult. Certainly coast walk seems a safer option here compared to my first thoughts. I might wait a year to get to know the tides better though and do it when the nights are longer again next year.
Thank you
Jan Higgins likes this
Reginald Barrington- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,252
You could always get your hands on a canoe and paddle around.
I have heard that while Langdon steps have been washed out at the bottom you can still negotiate a path to the beach, not sure how easily but it has been done recently.
Arte et Marte
Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
Sadly for a child from a big city, canoe is an exotic word. I also can't swim (yet drawn to the sea, why I moved here) so seems too scary for me. Maybe one day. Then all the bays will be mine.
The hint on the path is like fuel in the fire. Very possible that I missed something knowing I was walking my dog at 10pm in the dark when found myself there. I must come back and inspect further then. Might save me a year of waiting.
Reginald Barrington likes this
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,050
If you wish definitive advice on the state on the path you should ask HM Coastguard; certainly don't rely on Wiki. One method of negotiating it is to use gravity, followed by helicopter.
Reginald Barrington likes this
(Not my real name.)
Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
Haha yes - yet I would want to rely on my own feet down and up or there and back and not get helicopters involved
Read a book recently of a man who grew up in the area and played in the bay. They used a rope
Weird Granny Slater
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 3,057
I have done the walk, but a long time back and there have been cliff falls since then which would have changed the underfoot environment somewhat, probably forcing you further out from the cliffs.
Advice FWIW: study the tides, take a mobile and some food, wear sturdy boots (to minimise the potential for ankle injury on the slippery bits) and also let a friend or relative know what you're doing. Go when the way is clear but the tide's heading out: that way you get more time before it turns.
Last time I looked, a couple of weeks ago, from above Langdon Bay, there still seemed to be a ladder at the bottom of the path down the cliffs to cover the drop to the beach.
I have, within the last year or so, walked the beach from Samphire Hoe to Folkestone. There has been a major cliff fall there too, but I found it ok, if a bit of a pain to climb over the chalk.
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'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
Fascinating! The Samphire Hoe to Abbots cliffs and beyond is my other wish, but I haven't yet read into it. Just recently I discovered the sound mirror and been wanting to go down the cliffs since then. I am truly obsessed with these walks sometimes - but don't want to be a nuisance to anyone.
Weird Granny Slater- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 3,057
The sound mirror at Abbot's Cliff is up on the top, so no risk there (although there is a hairy bit on the path at Capel near the caravan site: it is fenced, but there's such a sheer drop that I'm stuck between paralysis and wanting to run over it quickly. The reward is to find yourself at eye-level with the Peregrine Falcons.).
The sound mirrors at Fan Point in Dover are easily accessible, though I think you now have to pay the NT to get right up close. (FWIW I posted a photo of these recently in the 'Horses on the cliffs' thread.)
No way you'll be a nuisance if you're prepared and take care.
'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
Oh yes we have walked the top of Abbots all the way back to Dover. First time I was at Abbots cliff it was rainy and foggy so we couldn't even see the sea all the way down. For a few weeks I was planning how to roll down these cliffs to touch the sea ( I have crazy ideas, but my husband only allows me to walk with my dog, and dog's safety is such a priority for me if keeps me away from all climbing. Smart man...) until a week ago we saw people walking on the rocks long way from Samphire Hoe, when I though it was impossible! So now I have this on my mind too
No rest for my wicked mind!
Guest 2203- Registered: 11 Aug 2017
- Posts: 10
Must I say being myself couldn't wait longer at we left today at 5.30AM with the high tide.
We left St. Margaret's 3 hours before lowest tide and planned to walk for 4 hours, all went well
Here are some photos
https://www.facebook.com/nolda.vilkai/media_set?set=a.866946906790266.1073742054.100004248944144&type=3&uploaded=64Alec Sheldon, Jan Higgins, Weird Granny Slater and
3 more like this
Alec Sheldon, Jan Higgins, Weird Granny Slater, Chris, howard mcsweeney1 and Reginald Barrington like this
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Rather ironic that we read all the stuff on social media from people who live in Dover say how horrible it is yet someone from distant Lithuania can see all the beauty that surrounds us. Fair enough many of us are not fit enough now to do the walk described but most just have to look out their windows to see the Castle or Cliffs or Western Heights. There is even a bus service to St Martin's Battery where the views there are spell binding and as for the sunsets here!!