UKH

Is this possible and worthwhile please?

I've previously enjoyed walking below the Seven Sisters and back to Hastings from Fairlight Cove.

Might be stating the obvious, but not from from Dover Town since you'd have to pass the docks. Maybe from St Margaret's but I 100% don't know if it's clear. It's certainly a long stretch of coast and you really wouldn't want to be caught out under the main cliffs on an incoming tide. The cliffs regularly collapse too, the debris cones of which can and do extend into the sea. So whilst the beaches *might usually be passable, they might not be all the time.

Go fast and maybe (caveats apply). Good luck, though intimidating, it's a beautiful place.

*they might not! 

Steps down at Langdon Beach too which is just east of Port of Dover. You'd be walking under the big stuff if you start from there. 

from satellite images it looks like you are committed for 3 miles at a time between points of egress.

I guess almost double that if you reach a blockage and have to turn back.

It does look a fun way to experience that bit of coast though

Thanks. I'm not familiar with the area at all.

I'd obviously need to start ASAP on a falling tide which might give me say 4 hours before  its essential to retreat ie several miles. With Seven Sisters  I was in Eastbourne itself well before the tide started to rise with tea break for cream tea at Birling Gap. Hopefully passing or scrambling over cliff fall cones won't be too hard. 

Thanks. I think the worst blockage for me would be long stretches of swimming or wading, as one usually can't see if there's a lot more ahead (I'll see what detail a satellite image shows). I'd wear helmet and take simple flotation device, dri bag and neoprene shoes and be prepared to retreat in ample time. 

Did this over 45 years ago, so there have been big rockfall since. (And memory...(

Possible (probable)with damp feet.

Make absolutely sure you get the tides right....there are some serious places to get stranded by the tide.

Apart from St Margrets Bay there is no escape.

Make sure the bottom of the path at Langdon Cliff is accessible ( it does sometimes get washed away). (So perhaps start from that end)

It's a good interesting outing. Could be circular going back along cliff top.

definitely let someone know your plans and when you're safe again.  I do a lot of sea level scrambling (we even have a guidebook for the ones here) and the odds of an accident where no-one can see or hear you are pretty high. Take a buddy.  On the plus side, you might get mobile signal from France at the base of the cliffs if you don't get UK signal.

Thanks. On a first visit I might have to treat first part as recce and descend at Margaret's Bay if the stairs are inaccessible. I might even take a light rope.

Thanks. I do sometimes notify coastguard and ring back when finished. I've previously thought cliff fall piles might actually be useful to get higher in emergency. Actually I will probably do it alone and repeat with my adult son if worthwhile and safe. I did Seven Sisters a second time with him.....we found a beached 16m yacht from USA and had a good look round so now I have difficulty fulfilling his expectations of a really interesting walk.

No need. I left a piece of tat I found on the farm hanging down from the searchlight position to the beach at Langdon when I was last there in 1968. Surely no one will have knicked it.

In the unlikely event that that it's gone how much new tat will I need to replace it? 

Did a route off beach at Langdon a couple of years back and the way down was at least at that time, fine. You have to descend a steep ladder after the tunnel right at the end. From there, you move under The Tube and Great White Fright areas east to St Margaret's. It's a long walk even along the cliff top from Langdon to St Margaret's, but there's a nice pub at StM for refreshments  

It sounds like a brilliant adventure you have in mind. I had one of my hottest, most hilarious, most scary and most eye opening days ever, climbing on those cliffs and I would go back there in a heartbeat - it is just brilliant. Genuinely think it's one of Britain's best bits of coastline. The people are amazing too, from the locals in the pub, to the police we met on the beach who were 1st point of contact for migrants, whose boats we saw being towed in pretty much all day. What a crazy day we experienced. I hope yours is just as interesting. Go steady and let us know how you get on! 

Thanks again for all the info. I don't know when I'll get down there but hopefully before next summer and perhaps this autumn. Obviously avoid winter with short days, more rockfall and rougher seas.

I've done some work on one end of that stretch in the past on assessing stability of the cliffs, and as others have said there are numerous debris cones on the foreshore along that stretch from previous cliff collapses, which are typically being eroded by the sea, and can cut off foreshore access once the tide starts rising. They could potentially also act as a 'safe' refuge if you did get cut off by the tide, but I'd not want to sit on one for 6 hrs while worrying about rockfall and hypothermia! 

I've scrambled along bits of the foreshore at low tide near Langdon stairs, and it can be incredible slippery below the high tide mark. I remember struggling to walk on parts of it, so bear in mind that might slow things down.

People do get cut off along that stretch on a fairly regular basis, so worth planning properly and having a 'get out of the shit' option in mind.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/07/schoolchildren-rescued-from...

https://hmcoastguard.blogspot.com/2020/11/four-people-rescued-after-being-c...

Thanks very much for the warnings. I've enjoyed quite a few tidal walks but can't claim vast experience. I find it's sometimes far quicker to walk at the base of cliffs where there is often much less seaweed ( turbulence of waves on cliff, less hours of water cover?). However there is then a greatly increased risk from rockfall. Sometimes weaving round big, slippery boulders can be incredibly time-consuming and unpleasant.  Previous storms can leave masses of seaweed to wade through and even tide charts don't tell the complete story if cliffs are lashed by onshore winds. 

I'll give it a miss in winter.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to scare you off, just probably not a walk to be underestimated, as benign as it might look at first. I'm sure it gets walked on regular basis without issue.

Thanks everyone for info. Did walk today in good sunny conditions. Started from Langdon beach about two and half hours after high tide. First few hundred yards horrible slippery clambering over masses lchalk boulders but then improved and fairly straightforward walking over pebble beaches to St  Margaret's bay with cafe and pub approx 2 hrs.Usual spectacular chalk cliffs, one rusted wreck. About 1 hour to Kingsdown bay again mostly over pebbles and finishing on grass track. 

Thanks everyone for info. Did walk today in good sunny conditions. Started from Langdon beach about two and half hours after high tide. First few hundred yards horrible slippery clambering over masses lchalk boulders but then improved and fairly straightforward walking over pebble beaches to St  Margaret's bay with cafe and pub approx 2 hrs.Usual spectacular chalk cliffs, one rusted wreck. About 1 hour to Kingsdown bay again mostly over pebbles and finishing on grass track. Some old structures possibly WW2.

Top work. Glad you got it done. Langdon is quite a place eh. Worth watching the video of Ian Parnell and Cris Cubitt climbing Great White Fright, which you would have walked under. Insane. 

What a place, nice one  

Yes Langdon was interesting. I had a little trouble finding the zigzags leading to the tunnel and old searchlight emplacements. I hadn't previously realized that GWF was in the Dover area though I'd seen the terrifying video.