Description
The original route from Sandwich to Ramsgate used a part of the England Coast Path north of Sandwich which has been closed for at least 6 years and seems likely to stay that way. So a new route is needed. This one steals a good idea from MinSan 1 by going through the Monks Wall Nature Reserve and then along the bike lane beside the Sandwich Bypass, which is set back from the road and screened by young trees. That's instead of plodding along the pavement of industrial Ramsgate Road for several miles straight. Dogs are not allowed in Monks Wall Nature Reserve, so you'd have to use the pavement of Ramsgate Road instead, like SanRam 1.
I've made sure that MinRam 1, SanRam 2 and MinSan 2 overlap where possible and so,
MinSan needed a new route for the same reason, and the three routes overlap now, so you could test all 32km/23mi of the three routes but cover only about 17km/11mi of ground, with a little help from public transport. It's one stop back on the train from Minster to Thanet Parkway (brand new station!) or 10 minutes on bus 45 from Ramsgate Harbour to Cliffsend.
This route walking on pavements beside busy roads altogether walking but it is broken up, and over 60% off road, that's 2km/1.5mi less road walking altogether.
As well as the Monks Wall Nature Reserve this route goes past Stonelees Nature Reserve and Pegwell Bay Country Park, past sand dunes then up the cliffs to Ramsgate and there's a long stretch of public gardens atop the cliffs. There should be a good variety of wildlife too, with freshwater and tidal marshes, reedbeds and mudflats on the route as well as fields, scrubland and views out to sea.
Mid-route in Cliffsend there's a station, several bus routes, public toilets and cafes, Pegwell Bay C Pk car park also has toilets and a cafe.
If you have time or inclination you could explore the nature reserves or the old hovercraft port at Cliffsend, go down to the undercliff path on the western end of Ramsgate, or down the steps to the marina at Ramsgate Harbour. They would just be small diversions from this path, but to make navigation easy this route sticks to the England Coast Path
from Pegwell Bay C Pk to Ramsgate
The original route from Sandwich to Ramsgate used a part of the England Coast Path north of Sandwich which has been closed for at least 6 years and seems likely to stay that way. So a new route is needed. This one steals a good idea from MinSan 1 by going through the Monks Wall Nature Reserve and then along the bike lane beside the Sandwich Bypass, which is set back from the road and screened by young trees. That's instead of plodding along the pavement of industrial Ramsgate Road for several miles straight. Dogs are not allowed in Monks Wall Nature Reserve, so you'd have to use the pavement of Ramsgate Road instead, like SanRam 1.
I've made sure that MinRam 1, SanRam 2 and MinSan 2 overlap where possible and so,
MinSan needed a new route for the same reason, and the three routes overlap now, so you could test all 32km/23mi of the three routes but cover only about 17km/11mi of ground, with a little help from public transport. It's one stop back on the train from Minster to Thanet Parkway (brand new station!) or 10 minutes on bus 45 from Ramsgate Harbour to Cliffsend.
This route walking on pavements beside busy roads altogether walking but it is broken up, and over 60% off road, that's 2km/1.5mi less road walking altogether.
As well as the Monks Wall Nature Reserve this route goes past Stonelees Nature Reserve and Pegwell Bay Country Park, past sand dunes then up the cliffs to Ramsgate and there's a long stretch of public gardens atop the cliffs. There should be a good variety of wildlife too, with freshwater and tidal marshes, reedbeds and mudflats on the route as well as fields, scrubland and views out to sea.
Mid-route in Cliffsend there's a station, several bus routes, public toilets and cafes, Pegwell Bay C Pk car park also has toilets and a cafe.
If you have time or inclination you could explore the nature reserves or the old hovercraft port at Cliffsend, go down to the undercliff path on the western end of Ramsgate, or down the steps to the marina at Ramsgate Harbour. They would just be small diversions from this path, but to make navigation easy this route sticks to the England Coast Path
from Pegwell Bay C Pk to Ramsgate
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Is this route good enough? - Yes (1)
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Geography information system (GIS) data
Total length
Maximum elevation
Minimum elevation
Start and end points
Sandwich
Grid Ref
TR3298958140
Lat / Lon
51.27475° / 1.33909°
Easting / Northing
632,989E / 158,140N
What3Words
jazz.snuggled.ally
Ramsgate
Grid Ref
TR3835964792
Lat / Lon
51.33224° / 1.42037°
Easting / Northing
638,359E / 164,792N
What3Words
door.drives.season
| Sandwich | |
|---|---|
| Grid Ref | TR3298958140 |
| Lat / Lon | 51.27475° / 1.33909° |
| Easting / Northing | 632,989E / 158,140N |
| What3Words | jazz.snuggled.ally |
| Ramsgate | |
|---|---|
| Grid Ref | TR3835964792 |
| Lat / Lon | 51.33224° / 1.42037° |
| Easting / Northing | 638,359E / 164,792N |
| What3Words | door.drives.season |
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review
Daisy C
10 Feb 2024Starting from Sandwich I tested this route alongside MinRam 1 and MinSan 2, the routes overlap so much it was simple to test them all together by doubling back along the short spur to Minster. You could do this using buses which join the 3 places plus Cliffsend where they meet, but if you'd rather use trains note that Ramsgate station is about a mile from the Ramsgate Slow Ways point and there are no/very few trains between Minster and Thanet Parkway (at Cliffsend).
Of the Minster-Sandwich-Ramsgate overlapping routes this one includes all my favourite parts. It is an easy walk and very direct given that you cannot actually walk across Pegwell Bay. Most of it follows the England Coast Path (ECP), with good signage and well tended paths. It was a great route for seeing birds, would be particularly good either side of high tide as the feeding waders would be closer in.
To get to the meeting point in Sandwich from the station I followed a pleasant pathway along a small river right to the centre, but Sandwich is an extremely pretty town so keeping to the roads might be good too.
The first 1/3 of the route was alongside some large busy roads but this was broken up. First by a walk along the embankment at Monks Wall Nature Reserve (wet meadows, the River Stour, reedbeds, small lakes and huge flocks of lapwings whirling overhead). The next road section is a little set back from the road, followed by a less pleasant section right beside it. Looking at the variety of wildflower species already in bloom in early February was a good distraction, and there were some large groups of orchids but just leaves in Feb, so I couldn't tell which species but there are several rarer and quite spectacular ones growing nearby so who knows. The theoretical section of England Coastal Path along the bank of the Stour (used in SanRam 1) would be a great alternative to the roadside pavement, but there are no signs that it will ever actually be opened.
Shortly after a turn onto a quieter road the path went off-road again on a bike path beside Stonelees Nature Reserve, which is shorter than staying on the ECP here. I dipped into the reserve anyway, past the grazing ponies and out to the south-eastern tip as I wanted to see the seals sleeping on the sandbanks (tide was pretty low), plus a hunting marsh harrier. You might need binoculars to pick out the seals.
Pegwell Bay Country Park (PBCP) is just beyond Stonelees, there are even more views across the bay (plus many more birds in the reedbeds, mudflats and lakes). When you reach Cliffsend the path rejoins the road briefly before pulling away on a shared, set-back shared cyclepath which passes a replica Viking Longboat and has views of the derelict hoverport.
Beyond Cliffsend is a path through patches of trees and fields with occasional gaps to see out across the bay. It comes out at the Victorian Pegwell Bay Hotel with a gold domed tower you can see through trees as you approach. Shortly you'll get to a long stretch of public gardens along the cliff tops into Ramsgate which has excellent views. But for a bit of variety I went down a grotto/pathway to the undercliff road which I enjoyed for the close views of feeding oystercatchers and turnstones amongst the rock pools and a fully natural example of "green walls" of vegetation on the chalk cliffs. There are several other paths up or down but the Edwardian lifts nearer Ramsgate don't work. As you approach Ramsgate it was interesting looking down over the working harbour and later the marina. I think it is possible to stay down on the undercliff road which might also be fun.
There are several fast food places and shops alongside the big roads near Sandwich, a cafe near Stonelees, another in the PBCP car park, Njord (nice coffee, friendly welcome) is just over the road at the the north end of PBCP, and there's a kiosk near the Viking Ship. The car park and Viking Ship cafes also have public toilets but neither was open.
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