December walks this season have been plentiful.

Hastings was a good start on the coldest day of the year so far!

I got off the stop before Hastings to walk from St Leonards to Hastings. It was truly freezing, but less than 2 miles.  I love December walks, as they are fresh and the sky is amazing as it gets cold, yet stunningly bright.

It’s fab to visit different towns, see the lights and get the good vibes freely available at this time of year! Most people are in good spirits, and it’s lovely to see the decorations and shop displays.  Firstly I had a soup at Blaze looking out to sea at St Leonards, before walking along the seafront then cutting into Hastings town.

 

December walks can be some of the most lovely walks. The short days produce lovely sunsets as the day turns to night. The Christmas lights and music concerts everywhere make for a lovely time of year.

MUSIC AND SHOPPING

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9OgxH2bK-M

Jason McNiff was one of the singer-songwriters featured in the Sundowner at The Jenny. A good set of music and a relaxed atmosphere all for free.

 

Winchester Natural Born Hikers Group Walk.

DUE TO CHAOS ON THE TRAIN NETWORKS ( STRIKES) we arrived an hour late, but so did others. As it’s winter we had to walk extremely fast to catch up and avoid being caught out in the countryside before sunset. It had rained excessively in the previous weeks, therefore the mud was intense.

Most of the walk was along a river and you just could not avoid the mud. I had the sense to put some waterproofs on over my walking trousers. All in all, it was a good walk, but I had little energy left at the end of it to hang about the Christmas market. We clocked up about 15 miles that day, and the morning after I seriously felt it.

 

It will be on another day for a Winchester Town Day out. The town is worth a visit preferably in spring.

 

Faversham & Whitstable

A day trip to Faversham extended to Whitstable That’s not bad going for a day out of London. There wasn’t much of the market on that day, which had been something I wanted to visit. We weren’t prepared for a hike. Instead, we considered going back to London after Lunch and a wee walk about the shops. We were stopped at the barriers at Faversham Station and told we weren’t allowed to use our return ticket until 6 pm. (Beware the Advanced Rigid return ticket) I knew this but it was worth a try.

As fortune would have it, this turned out a better day than expected, after a half of beer to mull over the options in the Creek Tap Room. The bright idea occurred to me to jump on the train to Whitstable, only 8 minutes on the train. Then catch the connecting train to Faversham to time it with the original planned journey.

A couple of hours in Whitstable

We had a walk to the harbour & it was a beautiful sight to behold, then before getting too cold, meandered to a small backstreet pub named,  THE SMACK, ( The name relates to the fishing term for a sailing ship, not the drug) then on to the famous converted cinema The Peter Cushing; now a Wetherspoons pub.

Two pictures of Faversham Boat Yard

WHITSTABLE/OYSTER BAY

I uploaded a few v short videos on my YouTube channel you can view them here. I still have a way to go to learn more about editing and putting music to the video.

Sadly this is the last post of the year and tonight I will see the new year in Greenwich starting with a visit to the Observatory to watch the sky at night.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5sG13Fg6oewfbLBow2c3TQ

 

This post is dedicated to my precious mum who passed away on 25th December 2022, she will be smiling to know that I’m still messing about with the writing and walks.

 

RIP Morag Robertson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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