bored traveller: south of england variety

September 21, 2013 2:49 AM

hello from an American in reading, UK my periodic travel destination. I have access to a car this weekend, I have my handheld gps for geocaching, extra batteries, and hiking shoes. plus i'm generally hungry at the right times and love the pub experience. so... where do I go hiking and geocaching and generally sightseeing this very weekend?

at this point I spend plenty of time in reading so that's not what i'm looking for, and I am avoiding London proper for various reasons right now.

I was thinking something like Bournemouth/swanage etc. for no particular reason I aim towards large bodies of water but that's no heavy requirement. I like castles and malls and old industrial areas and... pretty much anything with either visual or historical significance.

so English mefites. where to?

also, i'll add that if anyone cares to join please do memail me. I'm always happy to have a traveling companion! (and since i'm on expenses lunch is on me!!)

posted by chasles to Travel & Transportation around Reading, England (4 answers total)

Its a way away from you, and I'm not sure about geocaching opportunities but my favourite place in the world is Dungeness in Kent for sheer atmophere - its like taking a trip into nuclear apocalypse (in the nicest way of course!)

Deserted shingle beaches and small wooden houses and an inexplicable small gauge railway that runs along the marsh to Hythe all looked over by a couple of lighthouses nestled in the shore surrounded by rotting fishing boats, and second world war defense systems all and the forever humming nuclear reactor its a truly haunting place unlike anywhere else (in Britain at least.)

After exploring the beach, the marsh or riding the railway there's a cafe by the lighthouse for a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich and further down the coast excellent fish and chips at the pilot further towards Lydd, or you can take the trip into Rye for a cream tea (Fletchers House on Lion street does a very good proper english tea) and a wander around one of the most unspoiled towns in the south east with a castle , a church and old town walls and cobbled medieval streets - its amazing ;)
posted by Middlemarch at 4:31 AM on September 21, 2013

Have you investigated the Thames Path yet? With a car, you have access to pretty much anywhere along the whole 184 miles of it, and typing "Thames Path geocache" into Google turns up plenty of hits.

You like history... How about prehistory? Head west and you've got stone circles, ancient tombs and white horses. Here's a map of England's prehistoric sites; given where you're starting from, you might like to focus on the ones near the Ridgeway, a millennia-old road that's now also a national trail.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:48 AM on September 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

South Downs are nice, the south of England is generally pretty flat so you get some welcome views from up there. I don't geocache but I had a look on a GC app briefly and there were definitely a few caches around the footpaths there.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:42 AM on September 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: thanks for the tips. i'll check everything out. Dungeness in kent sounds a treat!
posted by chasles at 9:23 AM on September 21, 2013