Herne Bay

We spent last Thursday at Herne Bay, this was our first visit to this Kent seaside holiday destination & we  thoroughly enjoyed the day. We were very impressed with the clean beaches, the easy parking & the good restaurants.  

The original pier was built in 1832, it’s length was 3,787 feet (1,154 m) but in 1980 due to a number of incidents, the weather, WW2, & a fire the original pier was finally dismantled. However, in 2012 the much shorter seafront end of the pier was reopened. Full history can be found here.

The old head of the pier where once the holiday steamers arrived and departed is all that is left of this once great Victorian structure. Very sad, now isolated it sits there waiting for the the sea and the weather to finish the job started in 1980. I hope they do not take it down so that it could possibly be restored in the future.

In the shot below you can see the old pair head out in the estuary with the new reopened much shorter pier looking out towards it. 

Amy Johnson

Below is a bronze statue located on the seafront, a tribute to Amy Johnson CBE 1st July 1903 -5 January 1941.

Approximately 12 miles off shore from this statue Amy lost her life. “On 5 January 1941, while flying an Airspeed Oxford for the ATA from Prestwick via Blackpool to RAF Kidlington near Oxford, Amy Johnson went off course in adverse weather conditions. Reportedly out of fuel, she bailed out as her aircraft crashed into the Thames Estuary near Herne Bay”. 

A view along the beach from the pier.

A view of the pier from the east side.

© Lionel Callow 2017