A really cheap train journey from London to a sandy beach?

[DrRingDing]

I would like to take my tent and bicycle to the coast for a night or two.

Where would be good that's near to London and cheap to get to?

Any cheap campsites near the coast?

 

[zenie]

You can get to Brighton for about 6 quid if you take a stopping train, then cycle to a sandy beach...

 

[Thimble Queen]

You can get to Brighton for about 6 quid if you take a stopping train, then cycle to a sandy beach...

Can get quick train tickets for a fiver if you book in advance, min seven days. Obvs only on specific trains.

 

[trashpony]

There's a campsite in Ramsgate called Nethercourt. It's about 10 mins to cycle from there to Ramsgate beach (which is blue flag) and about 20 to some of the loveliest sandy beaches in the UK

If you get the slow train from Victoria, it's fairly cheap I think

 

[bi0boy]

Fenchurch Street to Benfleet then cycle along the waterfront to Shoeburyness.

 

[cesare]

You can get to Folkestone for about £35 probably less if you book in advance. There's a cliff top campsite, sandy beaches, and you can cycle down to Dymchurch, Hythe, Dungeness etc

 

[DrRingDing]

You can get to Brighton for about 6 quid if you take a stopping train, then cycle to a sandy beach...

What beaches are there near Brighton?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Fenchurch Street to Benfleet then cycle along the waterfront to Shoeburyness.

Yep, nice long cycle, and nice long stretch of coastline and Shoebury's much quieter than Southend, and the beaches are nicer

 

[Frumious B.]

Camber Sands - train to Ashford, then ride for about 10 miles. Go to the western end of the beach, next to the golf club and the channel. The channel is the Rother river which goes to Rye. It's deserted and you can wild camp there, no probs. And the water is so warm there, it's like the the Med. The beach shelves v gently, you get a big area of water about chest deep over the sand, so it gets very warm.

This might work: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ca....338173&t=h&hq=camber+sands&radius=15000&z=16

 

[DrRingDing]

Camber Sands - train to Ashford, then ride for about 10 miles. Go to the western end of the beach, next to the golf club and the channel. The channel is the Rother river which goes to Rye. It's deserted and you can wild camp there, no probs. And the water is so warm there, it's like the the Med. The beach shelves v gently, you get a big area of water about chest deep over the sand, so it gets very warm.

This might work: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=camber sands&hl=en&ll=50.931685,0.773377&spn=0.007235,0.021136&sll=51.511558,-0.092028&sspn=0.114313,0.338173&t=h&hq=camber sands&radius=15000&z=16

That sounds ace. Have you wild camped there before?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

And the water is so warm there, it's like the the Med. The beach shelves v gently, you get a big area of water about chest deep over the sand, so it gets very warm.

That and the outflow pipe from the nuclear power station

 

[Frumious B.]

That sounds ace. Have you wild camped there before?

No, but I've seen it done. It's so easy to hide in the dunes. The only problem would be that if your tent needs guy ropes they will probably go slack in the night in the soft sand.

This is looking west. You can see the channel wall a few hundred yards off in the middle distance - the straight thing which sticks out into the sea. If you go closer to the channel you will hardly see a soul. Most people stay near where the photo was taken from because it's close to car parks and ice creams. (Pic from http://www.camberbeachholidaycottage.co.uk/camber-sands/)

The easiest access is to turn off into what looks like a private track to this row of cottages. I think you'll see a sign saying Coastguard Cottages or something.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ca...0.005284&t=h&radius=0.14&hq=camber+sands&z=18

Keep going due south straight past the cottages, past the golf course on your right and you'll get to a path over the dunes to the beach. You can ride your bike until just before you go over the dunes. For supplies and water etc there are shops and pubs and a petrol station on the main road within a couple of hundred yards to the east. As you go along the path past the cottages there's a huge car park on your left - it used to have free open air showers.

If it rains there's lot to see in Rye - shedloads of history. And lots of antique shops and tearooms. Definitely no amusement arcades and kiss me quick hats. They probably have laws about that sort of thing there. Camber's the place for that malarkey - they have a Pontins and lots of caravan parks.

 

[Frumious B.]

That and the outflow pipe from the nuclear power station

That's miles away at Dungeness! The water is so warm near the outflow that the fish grow super huge. There's a pub there which serves them - they don't fit on normal sized plates.