We decided to go explore the coastal areas of Kent and have a wander about the seaside town of Margate. Our first stop was St Mildred's Bay at Westgate where we did some rockpooling organized by the thanet coast project.
Slightly apprehensive at the start as we have never done this before. All the other children (yes, kids, not adults!) were already filling up their containers with the various seaweeds n sea creatures. Also, the weather wasn't looking up as it was overcast and the wind in the coastal area is pretty strong, n we weren't exactly dressed for very cool weather.
Still, we managed to uncover some shore crabs, edible winkles and shrimp. Got the hang of using our hands to handle the crabs too. The small ones are really soft to touch and the bigger ones (half the size of palm) try to use their pincers but to no avail.
These two kids here were really agile, jumping from rock to rock (i guess they were trying to keep themselves warm by exercising) and they kept putting the stuff they found into our container till it got really full and the crabs started to fight each other so we had to let them go before we could get a photo in.
Next, we went to Margate which is more of a seaside town as there are much more people around and there's also a high street with a few familiar shop names. This is of Margate main sands and the colourful sheds along the pier have cooking facilities and all sorts of stuff for a beach holiday.
We walked along the thanet coast towards cliftonville and saw this girl and her mum walking her dogs by the beach.
Zhe wei acting 'seh'.
The backdrop is actually lined by white chalk cliffs, but alot of them seem to have eroded over time and there were quite a few reinforcement brick walls to help support the cliffs.
This is Walpole Bay Pool also known as a tidal pool. Think the concept is kind of innovative, and the water looks really clean cos you can see all the parts where there' seaweed. Despite the sun finally making its appearance, its obvious that the water is cold by the lack of people in it. Most prefer to wade n stroll along.
Not up for the challenge of soaking ourselves in cold sea water, we proceeded on to walk on top of the cliffs where you get built up residential seafront houses. Some nice colourful flowers along the way. The purple ones look like lavender but are a much brighter purple and have rounder petals.
Thought of bowling but figured the crazy golf was more 'hua suan' and allowed us to enjoy the sun so we opted for it.
We got plastic golf clubs and you can't really swing it the way you do with a driver. Was all toned down but still alot of fun.
Perfectionist ZW insisted that we try to putt our golf balls with one stroke. Think I proved to be much better as I managed to putt a few holes (after many tries) successfully.
The picture below is of Margate harbour and the lido but again, not many people around.
The usual fish & chips stall.
Then we found where all the people were. At the promenade! The sand there is much finer and there are quite a few amusement centres around, more shops selling spades, buckets n floats and the glorious sunshine illuminating the whole beach made it look very pretty.
Even the metal detectors were out!
