The sun is trying to shine between the clouds but there is no sign of rain. (Fingers crossed.) As for the wind, it seems calmer but we will only know for sure when we go outside.

Tigger spotted this visitor to the marina and took a photo.

It is a cormorant who sat for a while on the walkway, perhaps deciding whether to go fishing. We saw one (or perhaps the same one) yesterday, flying low over the water as is their habit.

As the title says, once out in the street we found there was still a gusty wind blowing, though not as bad as yesterday.

We came to this picturesque part of the harbour to meet a friend and have breakfast.

Tigger snapped this cormorant splashing down. As soon as he arrived, he dived and disappeared. They can travel quite a distance under water and pop up a long way from where they dive. This one did not reappear within my field of view.

When our friend joined us, we went to the Ship Shape Cafe for breakfast.

Tigger also snapped this Red Admiral butterfly that perched near our cafe table. He even settled briefly on my breakfast! Apparently, it was not to his taste (or, more likely, was too hot), and he flew away.

Afterwards we went for a walk around the harbour. This is the former Smack Boys’ Home. Dated 1881, it is a Grade II listed building.

Opened in 1878, this is the Grade II listed Sailors’ Church and Sailors’ Home.

We followed the western perimeter of the harbour from where I took this photo looking east. The harbour is very large and of complex design comprising several basins.

The harbour entrance is protected by two harbour arms, leaving a gap for entry and exit.

Nearby are the Goodwin Sands which pose a threat to shipping and Ramsgate lighthouse acts as a warning and a locator for ships sailing by. It was built in 1842, replacing an earlier one made of wood. Yes, it too is Grade II listed.

Here is a closer view. You probably can’t make it out from the photo, but inscribed in the fabric is the Latin phrase “Perfugium Miseris“, translated as “A refuge for the unfortunate”.

Looking shorewards from near the lighthouse.

Though it is not large, this Grade II* listed building building tends to stand out in pictures of the harbour, partly because of its clock tower. Above the central door are two inscriptions in gold on black. The lower gives the difference between local time and GMT (5 mins 41 secs ahead of the time on the clock). The upper one reads “The first Stroke of this Clock at the Hour of 12 indicates Greenwich Mean Time”. This clock would have enabled a ship’s captain to set the ship’s chronometer accurately to permit finding its position at sea during a voyage. Thus, it provided a very important service. At the moment, however, time is standing still as the clock is not working.

We completed our tour of the harbour and returned to the street. Our friend left and we went up to our hotel room to make tea and have a rest.

At about 2pm, we went out again. As we passed by the marina, we saw a cormorant. I tried to photograph him diving, which they do from the surface. I caught him as he plunged but he was so far away that you probably can’t make out any detail in the photo.

As we walked up Queen Street, we spied this interesting building, shaped like a castle and faced to resemble stone (which has been spoilt on the ground floor by being painted).

What was it originally, I wonder? It’s tempting to think it was a pub (perhaps called The Castle?) or a hotel but the large windows and especially the clock (still in working order) militate against that theory.

Then there are the columns either side of the big entrance door and the lion heads, the latter also vandalised by being painted.

I would be interested in discovering the purpose for which this characterful building was made.

As we had breakfasted late, we were not ready for lunch but felt like a little something nonetheless. So we popped in Riley’s for coffee and cake.

We continued walking, bravely heading uphill. We reached the top at Sion Hill, which is lined with beautiful large, probably Victorian or earlier, houses, some with intricate wrought iron balconies.

From here you have a fine view of the harbour. From sea level, you can’t make out its structure but from up here it is revealed in all its detail.

Here is another view, looking east.

We found a bench and sat for I don’t know how long watching the harbour and the various activities within it.

For example, the above photo shows a small craft leaving the harbour. It was one of two to go out from here and we also saw two pilot boats enter the outer harbour from the seaway.

We at last made our way down the hill again and although it was still early, we decided to eat and thus avoid the rush and crush in restaurants and pubs later. We happened upon Papa George, a Greek food outlet. We ate outside at the table on the left of the picture.

We returned to the hotel now and made tea. There is also plenty to see from the window, not quite as good as bring on Sion Hill, perhaps, but almost.

There are also several cormorants fishing. Tigger took this short video of one diving – fingers crossed that it uploads and runs. If so, it will make up for the poor photo I posted above earlier.

Cormorant diving (Video by Tigger)

We awoke to rain and cloudy skies and, according to the weather forecast, that is how the day will remain. As Storm Francis continues its vagaries, we can expect strong winds as well.

This is the view from the hotel window at 8:20am. Let’s see how the day shapes up…

We had a lazy start to the day and so decided to try the hotel restaurant for breakfast. They have a reasonable cafe style menu with a full vegetarian breakfast.

After breakfast, we caught the Margate bus opposite this fine old Royal Sailors’ Rest, built 1904 and now a Grade II listed building.

Aboard the bus and on the way to Margate. As on London public transport, face coverings are required on buses in Thanet.

We left the bus at Westwood Cross Shopping Centre. It was quite busy but everywhere was carefully regulated with arrows to mark paths to follow. Some shops had an assistant at the door allowing customers to enter only as others exited.

The general rule was Keep Left and while some people followed this, others seemed oblivious to it.

We caught the bus again and travelled to Broadstairs. We left the bus a little too soon and needed to walk down the hill to the town centre but, never mind, as we probably need the exercise!

The main beach of Broadstairs is Viking Bay. In fine weather when the tide is in, the beach is crowded. Today, with the bad weather, it was deserted.

We stopped for coffee and cake at Aqua 43. We have been here before. The cake was served with cream and was delicious!

Because both the hotel and Aqua 43 are participating in the government’s “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme, we paid only half the bill in both places.

There seemed little to be gained by wandering the streets of Broadstairs – pleasant a town as it is – in the rain and so we made for the bus stop. We narrowly missed one bus and jumped on the next without checking its route. As luck would have it, this was the bus taking us directly to Ramsgate.

So here we are, back in Ramsgate on a grey and rainy day. We returned to the hotel and will stay here until we need to go out for food.

As we lounged at our ease in our hotel room, Tigger saw that the sun had come out and so took some photos from the windows of which the above is one.

Even though the sun is shining, there is a strong gusty wind blowing, courtesy of Storm Francis.

At about 8pm we decided to go out and look for supper. This is a view over the harbour looking back from the hotel.

There was a Turkish restaurant that we had spotted yesterday but when we reached it, we could see that it was packed out.

Our second choice was a pub called The Goose, where we had eaten on a previous visit to Ramsgate.

On arriving, we found we had to wait at the door until someone came and led us to a table. We were placed in a corner from where I took the above photo.

On the menu was a dish called “Fake Steak” (with inverted commas). This was described as a pie containing Quorn mince, served chips or mash, peas and a vegan gravy. So that’s what we chose.

The wind, which had been gusty before, had gained in strength by the time we went out this evening. I attached my hat to my coat collar with the “hat lock” but, given the force of the wind, didn’t really trust it. (It consists of a cord with a clip at either end, one for the hat brim and the other for your coat collar.) I held onto my hat with one hand. This made it difficult to take photos!

As last night, the moon was shining over the harbour but tonight the sky was clear. Tigger (who was not wearing a hat) took the photo for me!

The wind is expected to continue tomorrow until mid afternoon but at least it will not rain. (If you believe weather forecasts, that is.) Best wait and see and adapt our activities to the weather conditions.

Today we are going to Ramsgate in Kent. We will spend four nights there, returning home on Friday.

We took a bus to St Pancras and while Tigger went for train tickets, I bought breakfast at Sourced, and then sat on the nearby seats from where I took the above photo.

Tigger joined me and together we went up the escalator to the HS1 platforms. Our train was already in the station and we went aboard.

Here we are crossing the Medway which means we are now in Kent.

Here is a glimpse of the Kent countryside through the train window – Photo by Tigger.

The journey was quite long because the train stopped at nearly every station but we reached Ramsgate at last.

We waited for a bus outside Ramsgate Station. The first bus to arrive was full and didn’t even stop. Not knowing how long it would be before a bus would have room for us, we decided to walk into town.

On a cool day this might be a pleasant stroll but on a sunny day and with luggage to drag with us it was hard work.

We were glad to reach town and stop for rest and refreshment at Caffè Nero. These days, they serve your drinks in disposable cups, even if you sit in – a sign of these Covid-19 times.

We cannot check into the hotel until 2pm and it is now 12:30. Cue lunch!

We looked around and spotted an establishment called the Coastal Bar that was advertising pizza. Two veggie pizzas and two ginger beers, please!

From the bar we went down to the harbour where our hotel is situated. Above is a quick snap of the harbour.

Our room is on the second floor, reached by two steep staircases (no lift). Above is a panorama of the room taken by Tigger.

As you can perhaps see (on the left), there is a kettle with cups and the makings of tea and coffee and an electric fan which we are running because the room is very warm. There also a suspended TV set whose main purpose seems to be to hit me on the head.

On a pleasanter topic here is the view from one of the windows.

The harbour is nowadays also a marina. Its formal name is Royal Harbour of Ramsgate, the royal title having been given to it by George IV after enjoying a number of visits to the town in 1821.

This is another view of the harbour area from a window in our room – photo by Tigger.

We stayed in the room resting and both of us dozed off. Through the window, we watched the clouds gather and the rain begin to fall.

Then the sun reappeared as you see in this contre-jour picture by Tigger.

There is so much to see from the window that we made tea and continued watching.

At about 8pm we thought we had better bestir ourselves and think about supper. We climbed down the two staircases and went out into the night.

The sun had set but the sky was not yet dark. Some of the boats in the marina had lights on.

We walked hither and thither looking to see what food was on offer. There were pubs and restaurants, all of them seemed packed and not making any concession to distancing.

We found a noodle bar and went in the investigate. Despite the open door and the board in the pavement, they informed us that they were not serving…

Next, we happened upon the Harbour Fish Bar. We don’t eat fish but perhaps they had something else on the menu? They did! Deep fried halloumi. Perfect! Deep fried halloumi with chips, twice, please.

Although it was mainly a take-away outlet, they had a few tables and chairs so we sat in for our meal.

I laughed when they brought our food: it was all in one box! We had to divide the spoils between us.

In truth, both the halloumi and the chips were delicious.

When we set out again, the sky was now dark and the moon was shining above the harbour, though it was playing fast and loose with clouds.

This is my last photo of the day, looking across a corner of Ramsgate Harbour towards our hotel.

Today is a lazy day, the calm before the storm, as you might say.

Cafe Sizzle

We went to Cafe Sizzle in Chapel Market for brunch.

As cafes go, this is a good one. The food is well cooked and moderately priced.

A menu with plenty of choice

The menu is a typical cafe menu with plenty of choice. As with many cafes, terms like “breakfast” and “lunch” are relative, meaning that you can order “breakfast” items at any time of day.

Sainsbury’s in Liverpool Road

Having attended to hunger, we made for Sainsbury’s in Liverpool Road, as we are in the habit of doing on Sunday mornings.

Shopping usually doesn’t take long as we know what we want. The shop was not busy today and a checkout became free as we approached it, so we were soon finished.

We have spent the rest of the day in dolce far niente. Tomorrow will be different.

Tomorrow we are going on a trip. We plan to be away for four nights, returning home on Friday. I will try to blog the trip as we go, in “on the hoof” mode. I will post to SilverTiger at home and abroad and copy the posts to SilverTiger on our return.

I will just say that we are heading south-east to somewhere we have been many times before. For the rest, wait and see!

On setting out this morning, we passed the Angel Building and, tucked away in the corner of a double-glazed window, Tigger spotted this resting moth. With its reflections, it made an interesting picture.

Resting moth
Photo by Tigger

We took a bus to go to Walthamstow. It’s a longish ride from the Angel and so, when we stopped at Leyton to change buses, we took a coffee break at a branch of Costa.

Costa

The streets of Leyton were very busy and most shops were open.

Fruit and veg

Almost in front of Costa was this large fruit and veg stall. They stocked a wide range of goods and everything looked fresh and of fine quality.

High Street

On arriving at our destination, we dived into the High Street. This is pedestrian-only and is lined with shops and, today, with market stalls. It was very busy.

Tigger had some purchases to make and we visited several shops but I won’t bore you with that!

Shopping centre

We entered the nearby shopping centre. There is more than one in Walthamstow though this is possibly the one that rejoices in the highly imaginative name of The Mall. (Yes, I am being ironic, in case you weren’t sure 🙂 )

After the fire
Jonathan O’Dea
Unveiled July 2020

As we walked through the shopping center, we came upon this object. Yes, it’s a work of art. Entitled After the fire, it is by Jonathan O’Dea and was, according to this account, inspired by seeing the mall on fire.

Our walk through the mall was merely in order to reach a certain destination that we had in mind:

Gökyüzü Turkish Restaurant
Photo by Tigger

We had planned to come to the Gökyüzü Turkish Restaurant for lunch. We have been here (and written about it) before and hoped it would still be as good. Happily, we were not disappointed.

Red Lentil soup
Photo by Tigger

I started, as I always do, with lentil soup. Turkish lentil soup is the best and Gökyüzü’s is a classic of the kind. Yes, the red floater is chilli sauce.

Mantarli Hellim
Photo by Tigger

This was Tigger’s starter. Mantarli Hellim is pieces of mushroom and halloumi cooked with parsley. Delicious! (Yes,I tasted it 🙂 )

Ispanakli Beyaz Peynir
Photo by Tigger

As our main course we shared the above pictured pide. This is a crispy pastry base with halloumi, mozarella, peppers and various other things. (Don’t worry, all these dishes are vegetarian!)

We once made the mistake of ordering a pide each. Fortunately, the waiter brought only one and having shared this, we found that, with the starters, it was enough!

To drink we had ayran, which is a yogurt drink, similar to the lassi served in Indian restaurants, except that it is salty and without spices.

After this, there was only one thing to do – head for home!

Walthamstow Central Bus Station

We walked to the bus station and caught a 55 to Clapton Pond and changed there to a 38 which brought us the rest of the way.

It may seem a long way to go for a little shopping but lunch alone made it worthwhile! I am sure we will make the same trip again in the future.