19th March 2025. Sunrise in Hythe, before detouring around the military shooting ranges, beside the historic Military Canal, to rejoin the coast on the Dymchurch Wall. Down the long stretches of sand and shingle, the seawall protecting the now well-tamed Romney Marsh on the other side. Once a place of wildness, now a slight approximation to that wildness is only really felt on reaching Dungeness Point – a place you can well-imagine still being a good place for smugglers. But now the nuclear power station dominates, alongside the two lighthouses. Three reactors, two in the process of dismantlement, and the third newly built. The shingle bank being built up to keep well-protected from possible sea incursions, and what that might mean in such a place. Then back inland, around Lydd Ranges, with the sound of gunfire. This was the final stretch of the Kent coast, ending just a few steps away from the Sussex border. 21 miles.
