Challenge: Part 1 of 2 in Micro-break! Day trips for under £50

I grew up near the ocean, and just as I’ve grown accustomed to living some distance from the sea, so have I come to expect a sense of missing-ness to surface every year when the weather turns warm. I miss the sound of water on rocks. I miss the grit and squeak of sand under my feet. I miss the salty air and the good sleep that always follows a day on the beach.

This year, when the longing struck, I was ready for it.

I had lined up a day trip to Herne Bay with two friends and a dog (not their dog; we were puppy-sitting). G and D and I met up for breakfast, packed up the puppy, jumped in a Streetcar (they have a membership and G says the car came in at £80 for the day, budgeters) and headed for the coast.

An hour and 45 minutes later we pulled into a car park (80 pence for the day!) near the Roman fort in Reculver. The fort is right on the ocean, and the view is amazing. After a long winter in the Big Smoke – and a long drive with an antsy dog – the space, the sun and the clean air were really quite perfect.

First order of the day was to explore the fort. There is an old wall and an older wall, and there are a few signs to explain the historical significance of the spot, if you’re into that sort of thing. If you’re not, you can kick off your shoes, pad through the grass and take a lot of pictures.  

Tourist boxes ticked, we headed down to the beach and began walking north to Herne. The tide had just turned and was on its way back in, so we could walk along the sandy flats. Slightly comedic local signage advises beach walkers that the cliffs are prone to breakage, so should you try this micro-break on your own, best save the Spiderman manoeuvres for another day.

The walk to Herne took a couple of hours – this includes two unsuccessful attempts to coax canine companion to swim — and it was, we agreed, just the thing after a long week at work. And in spite of it being a gorgeous Saturday, the beach was uncrowded, and the only people we did meet were genuinely friendly. For the most part, though, it was just us, the sun, and the non-swimming dog.

Herne, of course, is on the sea, and we easily found a beach-front bar that allowed dogs and served food. Canine companion took a snooze, tired out from poking around in tidal pools and barking at nothing in particular, while those of us with opposable thumbs had a shandy and a BBQ lunch.

After lunch we headed back to Reculver, but with the tide in and the beach gone, we walked along the upper path (avoiding those menacing cliffs, naturally). From Reculver it’s just a short drive to Whitstable, and D, a real foodie but an oyster virgin, was ready to see what all the fuss was about.

The final stop on the trip was dinner at the ridiculously welcoming and gorgeously sea-front Hotel Continental in Whitstable. We grabbed an outside table and our waitress brought some water for the weary pup. G and D and I ordered white wine spritzers (somehow it just felt like the thing to do), Greek salads, olives and oysters – a dozen on the half shell and six breaded and fried.

The oysters were beautiful – not too briney, perfectly chewy – and at around a pound each, almost embarrassingly inexpensive. More were ordered. And yet more. But the bill was less than £20 each – so, decidedly non-London prices. Alas we did eventually eat our fill (and canine companion began to wear out his welcome with the dog one table over) so we packed up and headed for home – tired, slightly sunburnt, and very relaxed indeed.

 A quick technical point: if you don’t drive, you can still micro-break the Whitstable way: an off-peak day return to Whitstable is £20.10, and to Herne Bay is £21.10. Trains leave London Victoria fairly frequently and the journey is about an hour and 19 minutes, direct. 

Total spend: £51 (1/3 car hire, lunch, dinner) — so, £1 over budget (but seriously sated after the epic mollusc feast)

Micro-break verdict: A beachy winner – we’re going back in July for the Whitstable Oyster Festival