Sunday 26th September – Sound Mirrors

While Dave was out I was checking Facebook as usual while eating my breakfast and noticed an advert on the side about local walks run by the Romney Marsh Countryside Project. As we were looking for something to do later, I clicked on this and found information about a walk taking part today in Dungeness to the Sound Mirrors Walk at Lade Pit. Having seen the sound mirror further along the coast when we went for our walk in August, I was interested to find out more about these anyway. I phoned to check that it wasn't cancelled as the weather didn't look good. I was told that it takes a lot to stop the walks taking place.

When we arrived at the car park, it was blowing a gale and raining hard. We sat in the car for a while. Dave fell asleep. As more and more people arrived, I got out of the car to find out what was going on. I was given an information leaflet about the mirrors. Then I had to wake himself and persuade him to join in. He was very sceptical about the whole thing and was making sulky comments as we set out along the road. He soon cheered up if only to humour me When we got through the first gate, there was a talk by the guy leading the walk introducing us to the expert, Richard Newton Scarth. He is writer of a book – Echoes from the Sky. This book is very rare if you happen to find one or even have one. There are two currently available on Amazon for £59.99 and £99.99. The mirrors are on an island, connected by a locked swing bridge on a private gravel workings (owned by CEMEX). It took everyone ages to get through the single file bridge.

He took us round each of the mirrors and, from the top of a small step ladder to talk to everyone, he gave us details of each of them, starting with the smallest one at 20 feet, the next one at 30 feet and the biggest one at 200 feet. He was a very good speaker. We are hoping to go back again next year. I know there are others that would enjoy it too.

We took lots of pictures – mine can be seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228447&id=593756844

For full information, the best website I found is:
http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/12/dillon.php