"Gun" Day 7 - Deal

The weather has been good to us, mostly it has been cloudy and warm, with rain between mid-night and 5am.  This morning there was bright sunshine, sitting at the table for breakfast the sun was casting our shadow on the back wall, and it was painful to look directly across the channel (nothing to do with the French being there!)
Today we made the short trip to Deal.  The shopping centre has a mass of independent shops and is much more interesting and varied than Billericay.  Deal is an old port town, although it never had a harbour, the boats where simply dragged up the pebble beach.  Well 'pebble' is the town council description - stony would be more accurate.  The stones vary from fist sized downwards. We walked through the main shopping area, stopping to look for various things that Jo wanted for her Christmas productions.  Then we walked down the pier.  A strange place the pier, the only place I've visited where they request a donation for allowing you dog in, but let you in for free!
At the end of the pier is a restaurant, we had a cup of tea and tried the diabetic biscuits we had bought from the little market place:  (A stall called the Gentleman's Fine Food Company)

A stall in the market place selling cookies

I'd like to say "and very nice too" but that would not be true, not that there was anything wrong with the cookies, excepting a lack of sugar.  That of course is necessary to them being suitable for diabetics.  Why diabetic biscuits - because I am preparing myself for that diagnosis after my next blood test.

Back from the end of the pier we walked north along the coast until the path ran out.  The gentle breaking of the waves, the bright sunshine and the level terrain made it one of the easiest walks we had done. Then returned to town, but diverted from the sea front to find some food.  A dog friendly, family friendly pub advertised on a board looked good, so out came the phone and a course was plotted to the Saracens Head.  When we got there is was closed.  We found the Middle Street Fish Bar just in time for Fish and Chips before they too closed.  Back in town we picked up some fresh vegetables for tea.

We had intended to visit Walmer Castle, but it is only open at weekends this time of year, so we continued on back to the cottage.

After our evening meal we took one last walk down the hill to "The Coastguard" for a pint (Incubus tonight) and Jo had a piece of their Fridge Cake. My taster told me that it was very nice, but I was still full from tea.  Back up the hill there was just time for some packing before bed.  An alarm will wake us in the morning for the first time this week. 

"Gun" Day 6 - White Cliffs

We walked from the cottage to the National Trust visitor centre, a round trip along the cliffs and back of 5.39 miles.  We stopped in the visitor centre for a bit and had lunch, then returned.  We met a school teacher and his charges, asking questions about the cliffs, and eventually followed them along the cliffs at a distance.  Soon we caught them up, and took pictures for them, then left them behind.  Brody found the long walk a struggle for the last mile or so, and is still limping a little.  We have found some new glucosamine tablets that are specifically for pets and that he will eat without having them disguised.

An injured Brody, expecting something - anything - please just feed me!

As I often do, I am reading one of the books left in the cottage. The "Dr. Thorndyke Omnibus his famous cases as described by R. Austin Freeman"  First published in 1929, reprinted 1965.  This is a collection of short detective stories.  Thorndyke is very much like Holmes, though the character is not so filled out.  The reason for this is that the stories are about the detection, not the detector. So the stories could be summed up as Sherlock meets CSI.  In the first part of the book, the stories are written by describing the events, then describing the detection.  In the forward the author tells us that all the facts must be available to the reader - an intention that has so far been delivered, and one that should be essential to all detective novels - though sadly rarely is.  Here, though, the clues are reasonably easy to see, but the reasoning of the detective is the interesting part of the story.  Sadly, I thought I would not get to finish the book, only one day left and only 167 of 1080 pages read, but by the wonders of google I have found it, and ordered it from a second-hand bookseller - first Christmas present!

In the evening we headed into the darkness, there are a few street lights, one or perhaps two at important junctions and other places, but they are few and far between.  So once off the main road, there are no lights.  We drove to the wrong place, due to a sat-nav error.  Then we couldn't see the road the sat-nav said was there (the road looked like a drive, and it was very dark).  A couple of times we went down unmade roads, and finally found the road we needed - also unmade. It was worth the hassle.  The Zetland Arms faces the beach in Kingsdown, it is a homely little pub - a communal front-room (a term I read in the CAMRA newsletter for the area). The service was exceptional, the food excellent and so the evening was very enjoyable.

"Gun" Day 4 - Missed Plans and Food Stops

We had decided to visit "The Pines", but they are open only Wednesday to Sunday, so plan B was put into operation.  Plan B is the 'Frontline Britain Trail'.  Take a look at the website, the village archive is amazing and the posts (for the signs) aren't as new as the pictures suggest. The first move is up the steps from the beach - a lot of steps, but I didn't count.  At the top  we walked along the cliff in front of some impressive houses, we soon came to "The Bluebirds Tea Rooms", near the memorial to the Dover Patrol.  It was windy outside, but very warm inside.  Having Brody we stayed outside and had an early lunch.  The waitress delivering the lunch lost the bread in the wind. Brody never misses a trick, but even he can only eat one piece of bread at a time.  After lunch we continued on the trail, but soon lost it and ended up on the opposite side of St Margaret's-at-Cliffe.  We turned around and headed back, and picked up the trail again.  We have still seen only 2 of the 10 plaques, but have walked and equivalent length, a little over 4 miles. We stopped again in Shelleys Tea Rooms for tea and fruit cake (very good).  Then back to the cottage.
Later we had our evening meal at the White Cliff Hotel - very good food, very attentive service, so a pleasurable evening out.

"Gun" Day 3 - Shopping

Shopping, in my view, should never be the focus of the day, but I may allow some exceptions.  One would be the need for food, so that is how we spent the morning - at Tesco getting supplies to meet our needs and a few (alright more than a few) luxuries for our holiday.  We will probably have to shop again, but not for much.  Even with a list though, there were still things we didn't get, because they hadn't been put on it. We did buy lunch - sandwiches and fruit, a selection of apple, mango and persimmon.  Persimmon I had not tried before, and it went into the list of favourite fruits well above mango (I will eat mango, but I will not request it).  We walked up onto the cliffs and found a seat with a great view over St Margaret's-at-Cliffe.

We walked up to the South Foreland light house, where Marconi experimented with radio, the first light house to have an electric light.  Sadly, time has passed light houses by and they have been superseded by GPS.  How long will it be before they are returned to service as our satellites are destroyed by ever increasing space junk?  They will still be here, but the holiday lets will have to be cancelled.

It was only a short walk - we would have gone on past the light house, but the wind was gusting and very strong, right on the highest point of the cliff walking was unpleasant and bordering on dangerous.

The next exception that permits shopping is shopping for others, so we went towards Canterbury to Barnsole Vineyard.  Here we purchased our Christmas wine, to give as presents.  Returning to St Margaret's Bay, we stopped in Eastry and old Saxon Village for a wander around.  We arrived at school pickup time and found that Saxon descendants drive as badly as everyone else.

After cooking and eating dinner we walked down to "The Coastguard" for a pint.
There are two things worthy of note on the way down to the pub.  A Victorian pillar box, and a Napoleonic wall.

"Gun" Day 2 - Watching

After a reasonable nights sleep - something woke us at 6 am, then Brody started barking. Jo got up, she wakes much quicker than I do.  Much later breakfast at The Gun Emplacement is taken with a view of the English Channel watching the ferries and ships going to and fro.

Over breakfast we discussed our accommodation.  It was built in 1910 and was once owned by Peter Ustinov in 1970 it was sold to Miriam Margolis.
After Breakfast we walked along the cliffs - part of the Saxon Shore Way.  It was a blustery day and as we were very close to the cliff edge it was not a good idea to let Brody run - the wind makes him mad.

The route took us round ant up to the junction at the top of the cliff, where the village green is.  I left my camera behind, so Jo took a picture of the boat filled with flowers.  We returned to "The Gun" for cup of tea.

Refreshed we walked down to "The Coastguard" for their 12:30 opening, keen to try their food.   While we waited Brody sampled the beach, but not the water.

Starter

Main Course

The starter is white bait, the main course is sea bass with winter vegetables.  Sadly the picture is awful, but the food was lovely.  The main course stayed piping hot right to the end of the meal.

We walked back up the hill and settled in front of the TV to watch the Davis Cup Final, the score at the time was 2-0, 1-1.  A remarkable result.  These last few years will go down as remarkable in the history of British sport.  After the celebrations it was time to find the F1 race from Abu Dhabi. BBC iPlayer
 replayed the race for me almost perfectly.  What a comparison to the Sky only races I watch on NOW TV, which are jumpy and at a very low resolution.

The race over - not the years most interesting, but a better result for McLaren than usual.  We had our usual Sunday tea and proceeded to venture out into the dark.  There are almost no street lights here, so a torch is required especially as for the first couple of hundred yards the road is un-made.  We also found a bin for the dog waste - a great relief for us (and Brody?)

"Gun" Day 1

A very late break started quietly, as I hope it will continue.  I am still not over the cold.  Our journey to the cottage took exactly the time that the sat-nav said it would.  There were absolutely no delays.  It was the first time we had crossed the Thames at the Dartford Crossing, having pre-paid using the web-site.  All very smooth.
We met the cottage manager at his house and he showed us the way to the cottage.  It is off-road - we drove down a track across exposed chalk along a very narrow lane. It was not the most direct route because there are road works on the direct route and the road is closed.  Tomorrow we have to find our way out!
The cottage is close to the edge of a very high cliff.  It was further away, we were told.  Looking over the edge, the sea below is chalky for a few yards out - so it is obvious the erosion continues.  When the Gun Emplacement was built (1939-41, I'm guessing),  the cliff was probably a long way away. There is a lot of cliff left, so I very much doubt that one week will make a huge difference.  The downside is that we cannot let Brody walk in the garden on his own, the upside is the view - watching the sea and the ships going up and down the channel.
The decor in the cottage is in keeping with its time.  In the bedroom there are old light switches, I will post a picture of it later.

 The view from the back door

 

The view from as near the edge of the cliff as I am prepared to go.

We unpacked the car in time to watch the Murray brothers put us 2-1 up in the Davis Cup final.  An exiting match.  Then Jo made the tea - jacket potato and tuna.  After that we ventured out in the dark and rain and walked down to St Margaret's Bay with Brody who must have suffered dehydration, he was marking so much. We got down to the bay and popped into "The Coastguard" for a swift pint.  Judging by the pictures, it was once called The Green Man.

I had not tried Merchant before, it is a full-bodied dark ale with a strong flavour, a very nice pint.

Then back to watch Dr Who, but the day got the better of me, so I only saw about half of it!

Now to try the beds ....