Botany Bay

Today we visited Botany Bay near Broadstairs in Kent. I can't believe I haven't been to this amazing place before! I found it on the internet a while ago, I can't remember how, and am very glad I did. There are a series of bays on this part of Kent's coastline. Botany Bay is so called, as smugglers were deported to its namesake in Australia. On the beach there are lots of caves, which were used to hide goods, and there was a bloody 'Battle of Botany Bay' between revenue officers and the Callis Court Gang, led by Joss Snelling. Joss Bay just along the coast, is named after him. We followed the sat nav, and parked near a pub at the bottom of Marine Drive. We walked along the clifftop, past this flint fort on the cliff top. Look at the way the large chalk pieces have been set into the wall. Beautiful. 

We saw a path down to the beach, but Andy had found another pub further along where decided to have lunch. 

 

The Captain Digby was very pleasant. I had salmon and Andy had scampi. The beach can be accessed just down from here. 

The chalk cliffs have eroded to form stacks. We got a little taster of the beauty to come from the top of the cliff.

One of the many caves.

The patterns of the chalk inside, with the colouration are so interesting. It looks like a mountain landscape.

This flint sticking out of the chalk looks like a hawk. 

There is a perfectly straight crack from the top to the bottom of the cliff face here. 

This pink sail looked so pretty, so even though my picture is blurry, it will remind me. 

View through the arch. 

And back again.

Gorgeous colours of waves and boat. 

A more imaginative piece of chalk carving than just a name. Apparently you can see fossils embedded in the chalk. Next time...

More beautiful beach!

And finally, the coastguard on patrol.

A good description of the bay and some of its history  here on The Bald Hiker.