Today’s trip takes us to Sittingbourne in Kent. This will be our first train ride since lockdown.

We started out at about 7:30 and took the 214 to St Pancras. We found only one place open for croissants and coffee so bought breakfast there. How do you eat breakfast while wearing a face-mask (obligatory in stations and on trains )? With extreme difficulty!

Our train is scheduled for 8:25.

Having bought tickets, we went up to upper level from which the HS1 departs. (See above.) The train left on time. As it was so early there were relatively few people on board. It remains to be seen what conditions are like on the return journey.

The weather is warm but the sky is cloudy, as you can see in the above window-shot by Tigger.

We reached Sittingbourne at about 9:30 and were picked up by a relative in his car.

We were taken to the Isle of Sheppey. As you would expect on an island, there are sea views everywhere. (Actually, some of these views are of the estuary rather than the sea. I look at a map will clarify this.)

We went first to Shellness which is a small and fairly remote hamlet. Among its amenities are a nudist beach.

Entrance to the private estate of Shellness.

Another drive along narrow, bumpy roads took us to Harty Ferry. The ferry is long gone but there are landscape views and a pub called Harty Ferry House.

To be served we had to wait in the porch and give our order which was served to our table outside.

This is the lion door knocker of Harty Ferry House.

Looking across the estuary. The tide goes out a long way.

We visited St Thomas’ Church, standing serenely in its landscaped churchyard. You can see some of the removed gravestones on the right. The church is reckoned to date from the 11th and 12th centuries.

Inside the church.

A closer view of the altar area.

The village where this church stands is called Eastchurch but the church is called All Souls.

We parked the car at Minster where there are wide open views of the estuary and its beach.

At Queenborough, we visited the Flying Dutchman pub for refreshments. They required a minimum order of £5 if we wished to pay by contactless. Eh? What century are they living in?

Possibly the century in which this pretty Guildhall was built. It dates from 1784 when it replaced an earlier guildhall.

As you can see, this was rather a whirlwind tour. Tigger knew the island from holidays spent here in her youth and enjoyed revisiting it.

The Guildhall was (for me, at least) a pleasant note on which to end the tour.

We were driven back to our arrival point, Sittingbourne, where we soon had a train to St Pancras.

This was our first post-lockdown outing by train. It went off smoothly, I’m glad to say. The small numbers of people at stations and on trains made it easy to maintain social distancing.

I wrote this post “on the hoof”, that is, as we travelled around. That will explain the rough edges!