It’s another fine, sunny day and we are travelling out of Broadstairs today.

The York Gate

We followed our usual path up the hill from our apartment, passing under the York Gate as the arch is called.

Costa

We went to Costa in Albion Street for our usual coffee and croissants.

Aboard the 9

In Queens Street we caught a (late) number 9 bus that took us on the long (90-minute) ride to Canterbury.

After what seemed a long journey, on bad and often narrow roads, we reached Canterbury. I photographed the first two things I saw. The first is a sculpture by Kenny Hunter (author of that other favourite of mine, I Goat, in Spitalfields) and the second is St George’s clock tower.

Caffè Nero-

We made straight for Caffè Nero where we ordered these drinks:

Guessing which is for whom is left as an exercise for the reader 🙂

Street Market

The next task was to find lunch. We went into Marks & Spencer and bought food and drink. Now we needed to find a bench in the shade.

Arcade

This proved more difficult than expected as Canterbury seems to be a bench-unfriendly town.

War Memorial

Crossing the Stour

We crossed the River Stour and found a walled garden.

Walled garden

On one side was the river, with a bridge and…

A wall to sit on

…a low wall that we could sit on to eat our lunch (remembering not to lean back!).

At the Marlowe
Photo by Tigger

There were deck chairs in the shade in front of Marlowe Theatre and so we sat there for a while.

Bulkhead
Rick Kirby

This is one of the artworks outside the theatre.

Distance view of the Cathedral

This is the nearest we came to the Cathedral on this trip. Canterbury is of course the seat of the Archbishop of the Church of England.

Sun Hotel

This is the Sun Hotel, built 1503, and made famous by Charles Dickens (allegedly). Not that the people of Kent are at all obsessed with Dickens, of course.

Canterbury street

One of the many picturesque streets that we passed through. Some are more picturesque than others.

Back in Nero

We had picked out the 15:35 bus back to Broadstairs. This left us time for a last quick visit to Caffè Nero.

Aboard the 9

The bus was on time (is this a record?) and we climbed to the upper deck where the views are better.

Broadstairs High Street

The journey was uneventful with countryside and villages to observe from the window. The bus dropped us back in Queens Street from where we walked down the High Street.

The Prince Albert

We passed the decorative Prince Albert pub, dated 1911.

The Promenade

We walked along the Promenade which was quite busy – not surprisingly on such a summery day.

The beach

The beach wasn’t all that crowded but probably day-trippers have already started for home.

We opened the windows

We returned home and opened the windows onto the street to let in the sunshine and sea air. We have, of course, made tea.

Later, we will see whether we have enough food on hand to make our evening meal or whether we need to supplement our stock with a visit to the Co-op. For now we are content to relax and watch the world go by.

At around 8 pm we bestirred ourselves and thought about looking for our evening meal. We walked up the hill…

The shell shop

…passing the shell shop,…

The Amusement Arcade

…the amusement arcade,…

The Antiques Shop

…the antiques shop and several cafes and restaurants all of which were closed! Broadstairs seems to shut down in the early evening.

The High Street

We started up the High Street which was almost silent in contrast to its daytime bustle.

Gulls, aerial socialising

The only source of noise was a flock of gulls performing their evening aerial socialising, flying round and round and calling.

The Co-operative – open

So, finding the Co-operative store open, we went in and bought the makings of supper. We bought items to microwave so as to have something hot.

Down the High Street

We then returned down the High Street, heading for the bay and home.

The Promenade

We walked along the promenade which was much more lively than the rest of town and where the local gulls, like their cousins over the Hugh Street, were performing their evening socialising, sometimes speeding along inches above our heads.

Viking Bay at evening

I couldn’t resist a final photo of Viking Bay. The tide is well in, as you can see. Few people remained on the beach though a volleyball court had been set up snd a game was in progress.

As for us, we went home and enjoyed our Co-operative supper – with tea, of course!

For our first morning in Broadstairs, the sun is shining and the air is warm. We have no plans today so we are taking it easy.

Looking across Viking Bay

Harbour Street

We set off past Viking Bay and up Harbour Street.

Palace Cinema
Photo by Tigger

We passed the small Palace Cinema.

Viking Bay from above

I took another photo of Viking Bay (at the risk of boring you!) from the cliff.

Costa Coffee

We called in at Costa for coffee and croissants.

We set out to ramble here and there.

York Street

Bandstand

Louisa Bay

Greenery
Photo by Tigger

Beach shelter

We sat in this shelter with a built-in clock tower for a while enjoying the scenery and the calm atmosphere.

The Cliff Lift

As we passed the cliff lift, the doors opened on an empty car as though to invite us in. We, however, ignored it and continued on our way.

We returned home for a rest and a cup of tea. Then we went out to prospect for lunch.

Aqua 43

We plumped for a cafe in Albion Street with the unusual name Aqua 43 which we had visited on previous trips to Broadstairs.

Aqua 43 interior

The cafe has a very colourful interior, as you can see. Perhaps, like the name, it is intended to reflect a watery environment.

Sinister mermaid

Later, we passed another cafe which has outside it the most sinister-looking mermaid I have ever seen!

Beach chair

Included in the facilities of the apartment is a pair of folding chairs intended for the beach. We thought we had better use them as they were there.

Sitting on the beach

We carried them across the street onto the beach and set them up. We spent s couple of hours sitting on s sunlit beach watching the waves, the gulls and the people. No prizes for guessing I preferred the first two.

Inflating the paddle board
Photo by Tigger

Near us, a couple of men were pumping air into their inflatable paddleboards.

Off they go

They went down to the water and disappeared into the wild blue yonder. (We saw them return safely some time later.)

The gulls were active

The gulls were active and they were the ones I preferred to watch. Even when they seemed to relax they remained observant and whenever there was a chance of food they would immediately fly to the place. Feeding gulls is prohibited in most areas because of incidents when they have snatched food from people with a consequent risk of injury to the unwilling donor.

After sunning ourselves on the beach (something we rarely do), we returned home and made tea. Later, we must decide what we are doing for supper, whether eating out or ordering in.

After our evening meal we went for a little walk to take a look at the sea.

Views of the sea at evening

The sun was setting and the daylight was fading, making the scene rather leaden but perhaps even more dramatic.

Boats on the beach

Old Lifeboat Station

This is the old lifeboat station. It closed as such in 1912 and its functions are served by the modern motorised lifeboats in Ramsgate and Margate. It is now an RNLI shop.

Leaning

This side view shows how ramshackle it has become with a marked lean to starboard!

Home again

It was now decidedly chilly outside and therefore a pleasure to return to our temporary home.

What shall we find to do tomorrow? 🙂

The reason why we omitted our usual weekly visit to Sainsbury’s yesterday is that we are going away for a few days. As the title says, we are going to Broadstairs in Kent, returning on Friday.

At the bus stop

The heatwave has definitely faded, at least for now, but the day is pleasantly sunny and warm. One of the problems of travelling in Britain is knowing what clothes to take with you to cope with possible weather changes. We went to the bus stop in Pentonville Road and caught a 214 for St Pancras.

EL & N

We breakfasted at EL & N while the Eurostar queue filed continually past the windows like a human river.

Aboard the HS1

We went upstairs to the HS1 platforms and boarded our train. It departed on the dot of 10:12. We should arrive in Broadstaits at 11:33.

Crossing the Medway
Photo by Tigger

We crossed the Medway into the ancient kingdom (now merely a county) of Kent.

Hurrying through the Kent countryside
Photo by Tigger

The train carried us through the sunlit Kent countryside, heading to Broadstairs and the seaside. We arrived at a destination exactly on time at 11:33.

In the apartment

We are staying, not in a hotel but in an apartment near the bay. We were met at the station by the owner and transported by car to our temporary abode – an unusual but welcome service.

Harbour Street
Photo by Tigger

Barely had we arrived when we had to go out again as we have people to meet. We walked up Harbour Street with its famous arch.

Viking Bay

I had time for a quick first photo of Bay. It was low tide, as you can perhaps see.

Cecil Square, Margate

We caught a bus to Margate where Tigger had arranged to meet friends and a relative. We left the bus in Cecil Square.

Cecil Square Baptist Church

The two most interesting buildings in the square, though each for different reasons, are the Baptist church, dated 1899 and…

Old Post Office

…the old early 20th-century old Post Office, no longer used as such,

Proper Coffee

We met people in this coffee bar and also had lunch there.

Aboard the Loop

Afterwards, we returned to Cecil Square and boarded a bus of the service called the Loop which travels around the main towns of the local Thanet area.

Suits of armour

We left the bus in Broadstairs outside this business that has two suits of armour to attract attention.

The Co-operative

On our way down the hill, we came upon a Co-operative store. Here we carried out a reduced version of our weekly shopping: as we have a kitchen, we can be more adventurous than just buying sandwiches as we did when staying in a hotel.

Charles Dickens’s House

As we approached the promenade I took a quick first photo of the house that Charles Dickens occupied. Not that there is anything particularly novel about this as Dickens travelled widely and there are few towns that do not boast a “Dickens house”.

The tide’s in

From the promenade (which runs along the cliff top) we had a view of Viking Bay where the tide was now in.

Reaching “home” (as it now is until Friday), we stowed the shopping and made tea. We may or may not venture forth again later.