Circular Tour.

Margate town clock.

This morning we were back out at the bus stop for a No 8 bus but this time heading in a Westerly direction out to the coast and Margate. All the locals we have spoken to all said “Oh’ you don’t want to go there”. But we did anyway. The day started off cool and misty and walking around the Margate water front was quite chilling. I must admit that the town did look a tad run down but it seems there are moves afoot to spruce the place up.

Margate beach and promenade.

We found the Margate Lifeboat on part of the beach and we found out later that the Lifeboat shed was temporarily cut off by a new building construction site and the lifeboat would only be on the beach until access to the shed was restored. The lifeboat was on a very unusual launch trailer in which the tractor was on caterpillar tracks and there were hydraulic connections to another caterpillar trailer apparatus underneath the lifeboat. Obviously to get across soft sand it was a most unusual set up which we have not seen before.

Margate lifeboat and it's unusual launching system down on the beach. It's normal home was blocked off by a construction site.

The best part of the place was the beautiful sandy beach which a lot of seaside resorts would die for. After an hour or so wandering around town we caught the local Loop bus which as its name suggests it just runs around in a circle between Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate in both directions on a ten minute service.

Miles of lovely beach.

Ramsgate, being the only Royal Harbour in Britain was quite a different scenario to Margate. The harbour was granted Royal status by King George IV. The harbour is a thriving centre for recreational craft, fishing and trip boats and the ferry to Oostende, Holland. The dredger was busy keeping the harbour clear and there were new floating pontoons being installed to accommodate more craft.

Ramsgate Harbour.

An old Scottish fishing boat at Ramsgate.

There is a Maritime Museum but unfortunately this was closed. After a nice lunch of Cod and chips down on the quay side, we wandered up into town to find a supermarket before catching the second to last number 9 bus of the day which took us in a complete circle from Sarre, Margate, Ramsgate and back to Sarre.

Ramsgate Beach

Oostende ferry at Ramsgate.

Good fish and chips here and a great day out.