Minnis Bay to Margate

After a very interesting if damp trip to RHS Wisley, we arrived at Minnis Bay and checked into the Bay Lodge Guest house, a very short walk from the sea front. It was very handily placed with a cafe round the corner and The Minnis Bay Brasserie and Bar right on the seafront with a beautiful view of the bay.
On our first day, we decided to walk along the runway styled path around the coast most of the way from Minnis Bay to Margate. The rain had stopped and it was sunny and perfect conditions for a walk.

 As you can see, the walking was very easy along this wide path, shared only with cyclists, and on this particular morning in June, very quiet with just a few dog walkers. Lyn can be seen striding away towards Margate.

 The white cliffs are a very attractive feature, especially for birds, they provide ideal habitats for nesting.

 There was only a short part of the walk, near Westgate-on-Sea, when we couldn't walk adjacent to the sea, and had to walk on a pavement beside the road. By an interesting coincidence, I had just started to read  Naoko Abe's book about Collingwood 'Cherry' Ingram serialised recently on Radio 4, and was interested to discover he had grown up in a 15 roomed bungalow in Westgate-on-Sea before moving to Beneden.

 There's a centenary commemorative bench at Westgate which was officially handed over on 11 June 2019,three days before we saw it.

 Here's the view from the bench.

 There's a very handily placed cafe on the front at a half way point between Minnis Bay and Margate, and in no time at all we had arrived in Margate.

 Old Kent Market is apparently 'on the site of the old Parade Cinema and has been lovingly restored to incorporate the building's history and heritage.
The building houses a range of different stalls selling food and crafts including- baked goods, fish, handmade dog treats, vinyl, craft ales, cocktails and lots, lots more'. We didn't go in, but headed straight for

 The Turner Contemporary Gallery which is one of the reasons we had decided to visit Kent.

 The building is wonderfully situated right on the front near the pier which has lots of places to eat along its length. Currently there's a photographic exhibition occupying all its galleries. There are some superb photos, I loved this one:

 The position and the view from the gallery are spectacular, and there's lots of gallery space inside, I felt it needed some paintings, a traveling exhibition maybe?

The Information Centre was right beside the gallery in a strange juxtapositioning of architectural styles.

From Margate we attempted get to Sandwich by bus for the afternoon visit to The Salutation garden.