On a cold bleak January day we head down to Camber Sands, catch a bus to the sleepy village of Lydd and onwards to The Pilot at Dungeness. Here starts my ambitious jaunt around the coast of England, maybe Wales and Scotland too – who knows??

Setting off on the shingle towards the two lighthouses the sun is trying to shine between the thick grey clouds casting a menacing yet moodily atmospheric light over the distant nuclear power station. Dungeness A, originally connected to The National Grid in 1965, is no longer in use; however its sister Dungeness B still provides power to the people!

So.. why two lighthouses? It turns out that on building the power station they omitted to take into account that the structure would obscure the view of the lighthouse from the sea! Hence, a new automatic lighthouse was built closer to the coast and The Old Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1961

It is surprising how incongruous concrete buildings surrounded by fences with very little sign of life and a somewhat threatening aura seem to draw our attention rather than the stunning view out to the English Channel. Once passed the power station we are left with a somewhat boring and tedious walk along shingle with the choppy seas to our left and the flat featureless Lydd driving range to our right. Thankfully we checked firing times and have chosen one of only sixty five days of the year when we are unlikely to be struck by live firing – the lack of a red flag flying is to some extent a reassurance but the area does have an ominous almost moonscape feel to it.

We are relieved when the coastal road winds round the firing ranges and starts to run parallel to the coast bringing the inevitable beach front houses which again draw our eye away from the choppy seas. As the chilly stinging rain starts to fall from the grey skies we pass windsurfers braving the winter seas and walk briskly with assertiveness despite our weary legs from our 10 mile stride along the Sussex coast.

We resist the urge to enjoy the seaside “amusements” of Camber sands – remembering days gone by when I would of pleaded with my Dad to stop his beloved Fiat Strada for me to ride a brightly painted ride or drop coins into the never-stopping slot machines…

It’s time for Nigel and I to change into dry clothes and head for a well earned lunch at The George in Rye.