What a week, it started in Kent and finished in Suffolk, via London, but what a time we have had!
Monday 4th February – day *100*
Fabulous day today in every way! Although the weather was dull to start, the sun soon came out and followed us all the way! Again this is a last day, so we are off on a whistle stop tour to take in as much of Kent as we can manage, needless to say that by this evening our bottoms are square and flat! 
We started with Folkestone and drove up the coast, stopping for a short walk along the white cliffs (well we had to didn’t we!) before the surprise of the day;
all nestled into the
hillside and feeling remote but prosperous was little St Margaret at Cliffe. We stopped here to eat our lunch in a very serene setting. Then on to Ramsgate,
a really cheeky and cheery little place which had the feel of the typical seaside cartoon postcard about it, we could have lingered longer but wanted to press on to see the rest of the Isle of Thanet (shouldn’t have bothered) Broad Stairs and Margate failed to impress at all so we drove straight on turning inland to take the slow back roads back to the caravan. 
We found the gardens of England in abundance here, and also spied the odd Windmill and renovated Oast house, amidst the pretty little villages all dozing in the late afternoon light. We finished our tour at Elham, where we stopped at a beautiful ancient inn called the Abbot’s Fireside, and sank into a big settee for a very welcome pot of tea and catch up with the complimentary newspapers!
It was heartening to find this side of Kent before we left, as it significantly adds to our memories of an otherwise flat, dull and charmless coastal county.
Tuesday 5th February - day 101
Today we leave Folkestone to move on to London. Apart from the last few miles where we had to drive through London’s suburbs it was an easy journey. We settled in quickly and found the Abbey Wood station was just a five minute walk away, which would mean that we could leave the car at base which is great. The train took us as far as Charing Cross, just by Trafalgar Square, where we got out to go and explore. After the relative peace of rural Kent it took a while to get used to the number of pe
ople around us, most of who were running home from work with their work clothes in a rucksack. We were enchanted by the view from Waterloo Bridge and had to walk along the embankment between Millennium and the Hungerford Bridges to take a closer look at the twinkly blue lights on the trees outside the National Theatre, amongst many other colourful sights to finish the evening
Wednesday 6th February – day 102
Day in London and went to visit St Pauls, unfortunately it was Ash Wednesday and therefore the start of Lent, so access to the cathedral was severely restricted due to the services and periods of quiet contemplation underway all day. We decided to stay and sit for a while and soak up the atmosphere (and billowing incense) and to view the rich ceiling decorations of the building. After lingering a while we left and walked to the National Gallery to view as many as possible of
the fantastic paintings on view, first stopping in Trafalgar Square for a sit down and a sandwich. We watched the antics of other visitors climbing on the lions and the active pigeons.
On view in the galleries were, Renoir – Umbrellas, Monet – Water Lillies, Van Gogh – Sunflowers and many, many more fabulous paintings, too many to remember. We had to leave earlier than wished as we had booked two seats at the Fortune Theatre to see Woman on Black. A superb production with two actors (and a woman in black), very little in the way of scenery or props but the imagination and the actors skill, made the production a fantastic success.
Thursday 7th February – day 103
Today is our second full day in London, it didn’t start well though. One of us was looking to spend our Christmas money in one of the promised exciting craft shops, but apart from the new experience of using the Docklands Light Railway we saw nothing that excited so moved on to the check out the smart develop
ment that is now the docks, but after 10 minutes in a pretentious concrete power jungle we could feel our spirits being we moved the quickly on to St Katherine‘s Dock which was much more interesting, with a row of London Barges that drew Chris’s interest for a while. We had another lovely walk then down the 
Thames path, past Tower Bridge back to try and visit St Paul’s, but still no joy as the cathedral was only open to people attending for quiet reflection. We went in and sat awhile again, it really is a most beautiful building. We did learn though that had it been open to sightseeing we would have had to have paid £10 each which would have hurt as we are struggling to live within our means anyway at the moment!!! 
We continued to walk up to Piccadilly, via the lovely view from Waterloo Bridge, to see if we can spend more of our theatre vouchers, and “purchased” more tickets to see “The 39 Steps” a spoof version which was truly ridiculous and very funny.
Friday 8th February – day 104
Moving day to rural Suffolk, a relative easy move along the M25 and A12. Arrived at 3.00pm and set up in the late afternoon sun, spring is really on the way and the lighter evenings are growing.
Our final fling of the day was to view the glorious setting of the sun in reds, golds and purples and a darkening blue sky. Our site is fabulously set in a small field surrounded by farmland showing lots of signs of growth all around. The owners live in a thatched cottage and a small pond adjacent; this is just the Suffolk dream!!
Saturday 9th February – day 105
It is restocking day today, so we are off to Ipswich for purchases - and a look round. The town has kept some of its old charm but there was a lot of development in the quay.
Returned to the caravan briefly for a wash and brush up then off to Sternfield, near Saxmundam to have supper with Claire and Max. We had such a FAB evening, a sumptuous feast and brill company, the time flew by and it was gone midnight before we made our return to Stoneham Aspel. Thank you guys!
Sunday 10th February – day 106
We awoke to another clear day of wonderful bright sunshine, blue skies and not a cloud to spoil the view. After all the rushing around of the last few week, we decided to have a day of jobbings - small repairs, cleaning the internals of both caravan and car, catching up with washing clothes, etc, all very domestic.
We had finished by mid afternoon, and one of us was itching to get out in the glorious afternoon light, so we took a walk across the fields to the nearest town and home again. We were only out about an hour but we had such lovely time with the sun on our faces and the stretch of the legs, it also helped get the appetite ready for supper! We got back as the sky was turning pink and we watched the sun slowly sinking into the horizon in an
other fantastically coloured sunset.
We started with Folkestone and drove up the coast, stopping for a short walk along the white cliffs (well we had to didn’t we!) before the surprise of the day;
all nestled into thehillside and feeling remote but prosperous was little St Margaret at Cliffe. We stopped here to eat our lunch in a very serene setting. Then on to Ramsgate,
a really cheeky and cheery little place which had the feel of the typical seaside cartoon postcard about it, we could have lingered longer but wanted to press on to see the rest of the Isle of Thanet (shouldn’t have bothered) Broad Stairs and Margate failed to impress at all so we drove straight on turning inland to take the slow back roads back to the caravan. 
We found the gardens of England in abundance here, and also spied the odd Windmill and renovated Oast house, amidst the pretty little villages all dozing in the late afternoon light. We finished our tour at Elham, where we stopped at a beautiful ancient inn called the Abbot’s Fireside, and sank into a big settee for a very welcome pot of tea and catch up with the complimentary newspapers!It was heartening to find this side of Kent before we left, as it significantly adds to our memories of an otherwise flat, dull and charmless coastal county.
Tuesday 5th February - day 101
Today we leave Folkestone to move on to London. Apart from the last few miles where we had to drive through London’s suburbs it was an easy journey. We settled in quickly and found the Abbey Wood station was just a five minute walk away, which would mean that we could leave the car at base which is great. The train took us as far as Charing Cross, just by Trafalgar Square, where we got out to go and explore. After the relative peace of rural Kent it took a while to get used to the number of pe
ople around us, most of who were running home from work with their work clothes in a rucksack. We were enchanted by the view from Waterloo Bridge and had to walk along the embankment between Millennium and the Hungerford Bridges to take a closer look at the twinkly blue lights on the trees outside the National Theatre, amongst many other colourful sights to finish the eveningWednesday 6th February – day 102
Day in London and went to visit St Pauls, unfortunately it was Ash Wednesday and therefore the start of Lent, so access to the cathedral was severely restricted due to the services and periods of quiet contemplation underway all day. We decided to stay and sit for a while and soak up the atmosphere (and billowing incense) and to view the rich ceiling decorations of the building. After lingering a while we left and walked to the National Gallery to view as many as possible of
the fantastic paintings on view, first stopping in Trafalgar Square for a sit down and a sandwich. We watched the antics of other visitors climbing on the lions and the active pigeons.On view in the galleries were, Renoir – Umbrellas, Monet – Water Lillies, Van Gogh – Sunflowers and many, many more fabulous paintings, too many to remember. We had to leave earlier than wished as we had booked two seats at the Fortune Theatre to see Woman on Black. A superb production with two actors (and a woman in black), very little in the way of scenery or props but the imagination and the actors skill, made the production a fantastic success.
Thursday 7th February – day 103
Today is our second full day in London, it didn’t start well though. One of us was looking to spend our Christmas money in one of the promised exciting craft shops, but apart from the new experience of using the Docklands Light Railway we saw nothing that excited so moved on to the check out the smart develop
ment that is now the docks, but after 10 minutes in a pretentious concrete power jungle we could feel our spirits being we moved the quickly on to St Katherine‘s Dock which was much more interesting, with a row of London Barges that drew Chris’s interest for a while. We had another lovely walk then down the 
Thames path, past Tower Bridge back to try and visit St Paul’s, but still no joy as the cathedral was only open to people attending for quiet reflection. We went in and sat awhile again, it really is a most beautiful building. We did learn though that had it been open to sightseeing we would have had to have paid £10 each which would have hurt as we are struggling to live within our means anyway at the moment!!! 
We continued to walk up to Piccadilly, via the lovely view from Waterloo Bridge, to see if we can spend more of our theatre vouchers, and “purchased” more tickets to see “The 39 Steps” a spoof version which was truly ridiculous and very funny.
Friday 8th February – day 104
Moving day to rural Suffolk, a relative easy move along the M25 and A12. Arrived at 3.00pm and set up in the late afternoon sun, spring is really on the way and the lighter evenings are growing.
Our final fling of the day was to view the glorious setting of the sun in reds, golds and purples and a darkening blue sky. Our site is fabulously set in a small field surrounded by farmland showing lots of signs of growth all around. The owners live in a thatched cottage and a small pond adjacent; this is just the Suffolk dream!!Saturday 9th February – day 105
It is restocking day today, so we are off to Ipswich for purchases - and a look round. The town has kept some of its old charm but there was a lot of development in the quay.
Returned to the caravan briefly for a wash and brush up then off to Sternfield, near Saxmundam to have supper with Claire and Max. We had such a FAB evening, a sumptuous feast and brill company, the time flew by and it was gone midnight before we made our return to Stoneham Aspel. Thank you guys!
Sunday 10th February – day 106
We awoke to another clear day of wonderful bright sunshine, blue skies and not a cloud to spoil the view. After all the rushing around of the last few week, we decided to have a day of jobbings - small repairs, cleaning the internals of both caravan and car, catching up with washing clothes, etc, all very domestic.
We had finished by mid afternoon, and one of us was itching to get out in the glorious afternoon light, so we took a walk across the fields to the nearest town and home again. We were only out about an hour but we had such lovely time with the sun on our faces and the stretch of the legs, it also helped get the appetite ready for supper! We got back as the sky was turning pink and we watched the sun slowly sinking into the horizon in an
other fantastically coloured sunset. 
No comments:
Post a Comment