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Walking west from Margate along the Thanet Coastal Path, there's a scenic coastal route via Westgate-on-Sea to Birchington, about 3.5 miles away. This conveniently run parallel to the trainline, allowing an easy route of return. The alternative is to keep walking - away from the cliffs and on to the flats of Minnis Bay - to Reculver, 3.5 miles further along the coast. Whilst nice, there's still no station - which means another plod of 4 miles to Herne Bay. Not fancying the 11mile mile trek, I opted for the hour and a bit it took to get to Birchington.

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Most of the route is easy going on a concrete walkway - but at one point the footpath runs inland for a bit, so if you want to stick to the beach, then there's a bit of rock pool jumping to be done. Whilst short, it's well worth the walk as there are a couple of quite secluded coves along the way, and walking along the base of the white cliffs looks quite impressive.