[I originally posted this in May 2018, but am reposting it to fix some broken image links]
Back in Canterbury, so back on my little walking trail whilst visiting some of the better rated pubs in the city….
The reasoning for the pub’s name becomes apparent given the industrial look of the buildings.
I like a bit of pub history. The foundry was started in 1835 as a small ironworks, and has made a wide range of items since, including street-lights, torpedoes, girders and engines.
These are some decent choices, and it’s pleasing to see so many stout options, including nitro stouts. Some of these are a little expensive, given the ABV, but the selection feels on-trend and relevant. And it reminds me a little of California….
I opted for the Street Light Porter which has a rich taste and notes of chocolate.
The beer names are inspired by the building’s past use. The service was efficient and friendly, with a laid-back and comfortable atmosphere. There is music on in the background, but pleasingly it’s quiet and not distracting.
The upstairs bar, which seems to be primarily used for restaurants. It’s quite a spacious location though, with a downstairs bar and external seating.
This was about as busy as it got during my visit….
[I originally posted this in May 2018, but I’ve reposted it to fix the broken image links]
Folkestone Museum is located in the same building as the town’s tourist information office.
They discovered forty bodies when building a wider road in the early twentieth century, and the skeleton of one is on display (that’s not really the right word, but that’s what it effectively is) in the basement. It’s a female who is aged around thirty to forty.
The Bouverie Shield, which was fixed above the entrance to the old Town Hall until it was replaced with a larger building in 1858. The shield is the family arms of the Pleydell and Bouverie families and is in surprisingly good condition, other than the damaged fixing on the left hand side.
This cinema was only open for a few years, apparently (I know this because there was a sign telling me) it closed as there were numerous pillars in the way of the screen. I can imagine that this isn’t an ideal state of affairs for a cinema….
The formal clothing of the Mayor…
A rather lovely little museum, clearly laid out and nicely thought through. It’s of a relatively small size, but it is free of charge and the staff were friendly and helpful.
[I originally posted this in May 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
The Bottle Shop is located in the Goods Shed next to Canterbury West railway station, in a former railway building.
The market is full of fresh produce and sellers of speciality products, in what is really a middle class environment that is a little alien to me. I’m used to Greggs and JD Wetherspoons, not locations which sell organic turnips. Anyway, it’s a nice environment and it feels like something a little different.
The exterior of the building, which I initially found a little confusing in its layout, but that’s mostly because I’m an idiot.
The Bottle Shop is a very well reviewed part of the Goods Shed, a location which sells a range of craft beers. They advertise a wide range of beers and I’m not sure that there is that much choice. Anyway, the deal is that this outlet sells a range of craft beer products for takeaway or to consume in the market hall.
The service – well, that’s impeccable. The staff member didn’t demur when I asked for a cheap dark beer, and he offered appropriate recommendations. I ignored some of the more expensive options, but only because I’d tried the ones he suggested from the Left Hand Brewery in Colorado. I know that brewery relatively well, and its beer are awesome and wonderfully rich in taste.
So, after much debate, I opted for this. This was £5.25, so way over what I’d usually pay and this is into the middle class territory occupied by Mr. Hensley of Norwich bar billiard fame. But, there’s an incredible richness and depth of flavour. I’m not a huge fan of peanut butter, but the smoothness is notable and it’s a clean taste. It’s from the Belching Beaver Brewery in Oceanside, California, and it’s part of the United States that I know well. It’s nearing perfection.
As a location, this is interesting. They offer table service in the evening and the friendliness of the staff member was excellent. For anyone waiting for a train at Canterbury West railway station, it’s worth a little meander down here.
[I originally posted this in May 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
Located a little outside of the city centre, this is probably a pub which isn’t visited by many visitors to Canterbury. However, the exterior looks welcoming and it’s clean and well maintained. WhatPub notes that the pub is owned by Admiral Taverns, which doesn’t fill me with high expectations though.
I’m not over-whelmed by choices here, it’s Young’s Bitter or Young’s Special. I’m OK with both, although these aren’t fascinating choices for such a well reviewed pub. However, my choice of Young’s Special tasted fine, although I’d have preferred for the pint to have been allowed to settle before it was served.
A cluttered back bar, although I like the items randomly placed above the bar. The service missed some of the elements I like, such as being acknowledged whilst waiting and conversation beyond the minimum needed, but it was efficient and customers were served in turn. The music from the 1980s is at an acceptable volume to me, which is very quiet, but I don’t really see it as necessary.
There is though a lovely little garden area, and it’s rare to see a pub still with outside toilets. Although the pub didn’t burden themselves with providing soap or a hand dryer…
Clean and comfortable, this is a traditional pub which apparently offers some exceptional food (I say apparently only because I’m not here to try it). Does it offer anything which makes it worth the walk from the city centre? Probably not….
[I originally posted this in May 2018 but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
Working through the list of pubs in the Good Beer Guide (thanks Nathan) this is the first. And, to be honest, it’ll be hard to beat this. Listening to some of the regulars they were supplying quote after quote, some of which can’t really be repeated, a sign of a pub truly at ease with itself 🙂
The welcome was prompt and authentic, it’s nice to be met with a friendly smile and with a member of bar staff who seems personable. It’s clearly a pub which has some contented regulars, but not one which seems unfriendly or slightly scary.
The pub had four real ales on, although all a bit light for my liking. The staff member though recommended the Kernel Export India Porter in a bottle, and this was an excellent recommendation. The taste was rich, and there were notes of chocolate, vanilla and chicken bake (OK, no chicken bake, but it was that sort of quality).
The staff member poured the bottle carefully to avoid pouring in any sediment, a warning that was repeated on the bottle itself, but there wasn’t really anything at the base of the bottle.
The wooden beams and carpet added to the atmosphere in the whole venue, it feels cosy and atmospheric. There are some items nailed on the wall, including the bugle on the peg, and I didn’t much want to leave, which must be the ultimate aim of any pub. By that I mean they don’t want customers to leave, not me specifically, it would be a bit arrogant to assume that the aim of every pub was to not want me to leave.
I sometimes feel that customer service in pubs seems to be a complete mystery to some staff. But here, it was perfectly paced and I liked how the staff member made conversation when I took the bottle and glass back to the bar.
This is a smooth pub, focusing on being simply a traditional and welcoming location near to one of the city’s two railway stations. I happened to visit at a time in the afternoon when food was being served, but the options looked pretty decent. A perfectly pitched pub.
[I originally posted this in May 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
The sun is shining in Canterbury, which means one thing, it’s too hot… It does make for some rather interesting photos of the city parks though – well, interesting to me.
One little highlight is the former line of Watling Street, the former Roman and Saxon road. This is located in Westgate Parks, which is now on the former site of part of the Roman settlement.
There are no obvious traces of Watling Street in this location, so the marker on the pavement is particularly useful. There’s also no evidence of a crossing at the river either, although since the sign said that the area changed in 290AD, it’s not entirely surprising that things might now be a little different.
The weekend in Canterbury had gone quickly and the four of us in Carena House waved goodbye to the landlady. It was a clean B&B (actually, it was more of a B as there was no breakfast included), although quite quirky, but the welcome was friendly enough, even when Richard changed rooms for reasons unknown. But, I don’t get involved in these matters.
We walked to Tannery Field and had a little look at the bull, designed by local artist Steven Portchmouth. There’s a double purpose to that sculpture, it marks that this was a tanning site, but also that there was a tannery rail track, so they’ve replicated the rails in the artwork.
And there’s some more information about the bull for those who want to know even more.
It was a similar walk to the previous day, with West Gate in the background. It was still too hot.
Back in Wetherspoons, which I accept shows a complete lack of originality, but I didn’t have long and there was a power point here which was handy for ensuring my devices were fully charged for the day ahead. The poached egg was only just runny, they keep getting these wrong now, but that’s my fault, I probably should have gone to a local cafe.
Back again also to Canterbury West railway station, where we set off from the day before.
And the sizeable waiting room, with an absence of power points. I had another little debacle at this railway station, as I had stupidly used my Chase card to buy my rail ticket. The collection machine was having none of it, but this is a known fault with Chase cards on the network, as confirmed both by them and also by Great Western Railways. Chase had said the workaround was for the ticket desk to print the ticket (which isn’t really a solution to their dodgy arrangements in this area), but the man on the desk said he couldn’t do that. I wasn’t going to argue, although I’ve noted that other ticket desks have managed to, but he was helpful enough to wave me through the barriers so I could get to the platform.
My plan was to go and speak immediately to the train guard to tell him of my little predicament, which was a good strategy. The guard said he couldn’t print the ticket either as his machine didn’t have that functionality (there’s a lot of little issues in terms of consistency within the rail network), but that it didn’t matter, he’d wave me through the barriers at London Victoria.
Another routine complaint of mine, there isn’t space in a rail carriage for five seats across, and I am unanimous in that…. Anyway, we got about 100 metres down the track before the Southern ticket inspectors came to interrogate passengers, but fortunately, the train guard noted this and told the inspectors I had a ticket but the machine was broken at the railway station. The inspectors looked confused, as the machine wasn’t broken, just it wouldn’t print my ticket, but they didn’t pursue the matter. They came back through the train twice, with one of them forgetting they had spoken to me already, but the other was more alert.
That meant at London Victoria station I had to get through the barrier as I still didn’t have a ticket printed out. The customer in front of me told the gate guard that “the guard had forgotten to print my ticket” which was not an excuse that was accepted. For about two minutes there was an argument about this, with the gate guard saying that he didn’t believe the guard on-board had forgotten, and even if he had, the customer should have reminded him. Voices were raised and it was bloody clear that the customer didn’t have a ticket, but he was let through anyway. This is a fault with the rail network, what’s the point of this expensive set-up if people are just let through anyway? I was slightly worried that the gate guard would instead have an argument with me, but I showed him my booking reference for the ticket that I couldn’t print and I was let through without dispute. I think it’s fair to say, it’s not hard to get through those barriers without a ticket.
It was time then to get on the Victoria Line for a couple of stops, to then board the Piccadilly Line to get to Heathrow, a moment of excitement as that meant a few days overseas, the last I’d get for several weeks. No delays here, all was going well.
Back at Heathrow T5, which wasn’t particularly busy despite all the fears of overwhelmed airports. The flights that have been trimmed seemed to have helped operations though, with the wait at security being relatively minimal.
The BA lounge has gone from self-service to order via app, back now to order at a counter. Here’s the menu for the lounge, a choice of meatballs, pie, vegetable curry or vegan balls.
I opted for two steak pies with a can of Brewdog Jet Stream, living the dream…. These pies aren’t world class, but they’re moreish (as are many things with me) and sufficiently tasty for my needs, especially when I get chance to ask for extra gravy.
These raw juices were rather delicious, although I suspect I overdosed on fruit with them. There was no fruit health warning in the area which I felt that there could have been.
There’s the green sludge of the raw juice in the background. And another highlight, crisps have finally returned to the lounge, so what a time to be alive!
And even more excitingly (I don’t get out much), the ice cream has returned to the freezers.
The flight was departing from Gate A1 but I wasn’t entirely sure this was well managed, as there weren’t enough seats and there was a paucity of announcements. Standing there for thirty minutes was fine in terms of time, although the terminal in this area was quite hot.
None of these dispensers were functioning at the airport, another one of Heathrow’s little short cuts I imagine.
The interior of the aircraft and I had an exit row seat by the window. The flight was very busy and at near capacity, so there was the usual faffing around trying to fit ridiculous numbers of arguably oversized bags into the overhead lockers.
We took off over 30 minutes late, which is always slightly frustrating on a night flight, especially when I had plans to catch the last bus of the day in Prague. Fortunately, we landed on time as the pilots were able to make up the time during the flight. There was nothing much notable about the flight, which is always a positive as far as I’m concerned.
The standard in-flight snack of crisps and a small bottle of water.
At Prague airport and there was more queueing as UK travellers now need a stamp in their passport. Fortunately my fast walking had meant the queue wasn’t too long when I arrived, I think I was through border control in under ten minutes.
Rather random, but I liked the little aircraft shaped holes they had made in the benches. I had visited Prague a few months ago and remembered where the ticket machines were to buy bus tickets, something which saved a few minutes of uncertainty.
I caught the last 191 bus of the day, with just a couple of minutes to spare. It wouldn’t have mattered as a night service then kicked in, but this saved me over thirty minutes, so I pleased to be able to catch it.
The bus journey takes around 40 minutes and I was fortunate with my hotel choice, as there was a bus stop just a one minute walk away. It goes direct from the airport to the city centre, or at least the west bank of the river so that people can take another bus or tram to get elsewhere in Prague.
Off the bus and ready for my big one minute walk to the hotel. It’s rare that they’re such short treks at this time of night and I had already alerted the hotel that I’d be late. I’m not sure they care to be honest as they have 24 hour reception desks, but I like to let the hotel know of my plans in case they flog off my room to someone else and they replied promptly and politely telling me all was fine with arriving late.
And here it is, the Ibis Praha Mala Strana, a well reviewed Accor hotel on the west side of the river which isn’t an area that I’ve much explored before in my previous visits to the city. The entrance, for reasons unknown, is tucked away on the far side of the building, but the signage was sufficiently clear for me not to get muddled up.
Typically, someone had just checked in despite it being after midnight, so I had a little bit of a wait, but that gave me enough time to take photos of their shop area. The staff here were always friendly and welcoming, this transpired to be one of my favourite Accor hotels.
My welcome gift was doughnuts and I was very pleased indeed with that. I just knew that this was my sort of hotel.
And the room, the standard Ibis layout, all clean and comfortable. I’m still quite content with this sort of room layout, it’s functional, it has a desk, working wi-fi and space for storage. Given that I had such a late arrival into Prague, I was surprised that I was able to make such timely progress to be in the hotel just after midnight. That gave me enough sleep before breakfast, but more on that in the next riveting instalment of this blog as it transpired to be relatively memorable (or as memorable as a hotel breakfast can realistically be).
Our longer walk for the weekend was the 17 mile expedition along the St. Augustine’s Way, although we only did the Minster to Canterbury section. Dave, Steve, Richard and I enjoyed a little pre-walk walk, along the Great Stour river.
My pre-walk meal of Avocado muffins at the West Gate Inn, one of two JD Wetherspoon outlets in Canterbury.
After some arranging of people into little groups to buy Group Saver tickets for the railway journey to Minster, we cluttered up the platform. Gordon questioned what he was doing in terms of the walk, but we were confident that he could complete the expedition, he’s a very brave man. But, despite that, he thought that he’d better have a little sit down before the main event started.
Safely in Minster and I liked how the train guard came out to check that’s actually where we wanted to get off, as I think he had been expecting us to get off at Ramsgate. That is where the St. Augustine’s Way actually starts (or ends) but that distance would have been a bit much for the group to have got done in the time that we had. Note Steve’s awareness that a photo was being taken, whilst others were rather less prepared.
Minster Abbey which came to an end following the Dissolution of the Monasteries and after being taken over by the Crown, it became a residential property. That might have been the end of the religious connection to the site, but in 1937 a group of Benedictine nuns took it over and it has remained a nunnery since then.
The Grade I listed St. Mary’s Church in Minster where there has been a Christian building since 670. That’s certainly some hallowed ground there.
The obvious Norman features aren’t later copies or inserted by the Victorians, the nave dates to the middle of the twelfth century.
The chancel, which dates to the thirteenth century.
The church’s muniment chest and as the sign notes, it’s from the medieval period, although the oak lid is older than the elm chest itself.
The font and the cover behind it are both from the fifteenth century. If any member of the congregation from that time had somehow walked in over 500 years later, they’d find very little had changed, I’m sure that they would be most reassured.
With that we were off on the main part of the walk, led by Steve as he had completed the entire route the previous year. He pointed out the little Camino stickers we needed to look out for.
Richard got his bag stuck in a tree, but I helpfully assisted him out of his predicament. Richard blamed poor Liam for the situation who wasn’t even on the weekend, but I didn’t get involved.
A slightly rickety bridge, but it was sufficient for our group to get across.
It was too hot, so having a pub open just after 11.00 was particularly useful, this is the Dog and Duck in the beautifully named village of Plucks Gutter. Wikipedia give the etymology of the village’s name, although I have no idea whether this is true or not:
“The hamlet is named after a Dutch Drainage Engineer called Ploeg, whose grave is in All Saints Church, West Stourmouth. Ploeg, being the Dutch for a plough, the hamlet takes its origins from the Dutch Protestant tradition of draining marshland by creating a ploughed ditch”.
A quick half, this was the Master Brew from Shepherd Neame which was well kept although unexceptional, but given the heat, it was sufficiently refreshing. I haven’t seen American Express hand sanitiser before, which seemed a little odd in terms of branding. Someone from American Express pondered what they could brand in a pub and they went for the hand sanitiser….
Relaxing in the beer garden, I tried to get in the shade.
The next stage of the adventure, after walking through the beer garden, involved walking along the river which was ideal with some tree cover and breeze from the water. Although it was still too hot, but I didn’t moan about that and just got on with it of course.
Some more information about St. Augustine’s Way, or the trail as this sign refers to it. Woodland areas were a real boon during the walk, the open sweeping Kent plains were rather less delightful when there was no shade. Susan had decided to take an umbrella around with her, which was one of the most sensible decisions of the day as far as I was concerned, she was entirely in the shade all day and I was quite jealous. I suggested to Richard that he carry around one of the pub’s parasols to keep us shady, but he refused for reasons unknown.
The Red Lion in Stodmarsh, a pub which offered a very friendly welcome and which as a food based pub I had expected to be full on a Saturday afternoon. The reverse seemed to be the case and they could have served food to our entire group if we would have had time, but some decadent crisps did instead. They’re from the Taste of Game range and the options at the pub were:
Grouse and Whinberry
Smoked Pheasant and Wild Mushroom
Wild Duck and Plum Sauce
Wild Boar and Apple
The aim of the crisps is to encourage people to try game, which hasn’t worked for me as I’m not exotic enough to start ordering grouse and the like, it’s not something that Greggs specialises in. Anyway, I seem to have now got myself distracted writing about crisps. The pub has quite an exotic and adventurous menu, something a little different and they deserve to do well.
St. Mary’s Church in Stodmarsh, not a church that we went in, but it dates from the twelfth century with a major restoration having taken place at the end of the nineteenth century.
St Andrews Church in Wickhambreaux, a Saxon name for the village, from ‘wic’ which is a fortified town and ‘ham’ meaning homestead, which was its Domesday name, Wicheham. The ‘breaux’ bit is later, named after a local family and to avoid confusion with two other locations with similar names.
The interior of the Grade I listed church and it’s notable because of the glass, with the listed building record noting:
“The east window has Art stained glass of the Annunciation dated 1896 and signed Arild Rosenrrantz. The New York Times of 1896 reported that this was the first commission in Europe to be given to American glassmakers.”
The nave with its coloured roof, with much of this interior being from the late Victorian period.
Back in Canterbury and this, St Martin’s, is the oldest parish church in the English speaking world, having first been used for prayer in 597. It was relevant to our walk as it was the site where St. Augustine had his mission headquarters and King Æthelberht was baptised here.
The church’s tower and there’s bits of Roman brick that were used in the construction.
Inevitably there have been many structural changes over the centuries, although some of the early core of the building from the pre-conquest days does still remain. The tower is much later and it’s evident how bits have been added on to the building, fortunately without the Victorians trying to unify the whole arrangement by standardising windows and the like. Along with Canterbury Cathedral and St. Augustine’s Abbey, this church is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Hike Norfolk group having a little rest at the entrance to the church. Everyone had done very well, especially given the heat that we had all endured. Gordon had been very brave, and although Richard was limping around a bit, he had also done marvellously. Indeed, he has been inspired to take part in an LDWA challenge event, so very exciting! Jonathan and Richard had got separated from the group towards the end of the walk, but with a little bit of me shouting and Jonathan using his exploration skills, we met up again soon enough.
All that’s left of the St George the Martyr church in the city, notable for being where the playwright Christopher Marlowe was baptised. Unfortunately, it was hit by a bomb on 1 June 1942 which destroyed most of the building and also the nearby house where Marlowe was born. The remains of the structure remained standing until 1955, but rather than keep them, it was decided to pull them down and only save the tower.
And the end of the walk and our little pilgrimage, we had reached the locked doors of the gateway into Canterbury Cathedral. Richard tried to get a taxi back to the B&B, but couldn’t find one, so he came back with a small group of us, where we enjoyed a couple of hours peace and quiet following our brave adventure. If you complete the pilgrimage route you can visit the cathedral for free, but since we had only done part of the route and the cathedral was shut, it was fairly evident we wouldn’t be getting in for free.
The evening meal was at Bills in Canterbury and I’m glad that they could cater for a group of 21 people with what seemed complete ease. We had to wait ten minutes after our booking time whilst they cleared down the previous table, but all else was efficient.
The beer choice wasn’t exceptional, but there were a least a few options so I can’t overly complain and it was certainly reasonable for a chain restaurant. The restaurant didn’t seem surprised and delighted with my announcement that I didn’t want put drinks putting on the tab, which is a common policy with Hike Norfolk to ensure that nothing is left over at the end as someone has forgotten it. The restaurant wanted what would likely be 50 drinks placed on a bill which we would later identify who had ordered what, but they in the end let us order from the bar as we went along. That little issue aside, the service was friendly and engaging for the rest of the evening and the staff were always personable.
The starter of spiced crab cakes and that green chilli dip was rather delicious. I was impressed that they got all 21 dishes out on time and at the appropriate temperature with no issues. We had pre-ordered, although I had managed to forget someone’s main course, although the restaurant coped admirably with adding that. I like to think they get even more demanding customers than me…..
The main course of half a roasted chicken, which was slightly unusually served with fried potatoes, instead of the usual chips, which seemed a rather good idea. The garlic aioli added some extra taste to the whole arrangement, which was more filling than the photos suggested.
I probably didn’t need a dessert, but as I had pre-ordered one, I forced myself to eat it. I’m unsure why they’re using the same plates as Wetherspoons, but that’s a different matter. This is the Eton Colada with fresh pineapple, coconut, cream, meringue and ice cream and a cherry on top, served in a 1970s type pineapple thing.
It had been a long day and it was nearing 23.00 by the time we left the restaurant, so we meandered back off to our various accommodation options. It was still slightly too warm in Canterbury and it was clear that I had managed to get a sunburnt neck, but fortunately we were distracted by all of Richard’s ailments to think of our own.
Some of the classy design arrangements at the B&B.
And it looks like I’ve done the handiwork in the bathroom, although Richard, Steve and Dave commented that they had similar grouting which looked like it had been laid out with a trowel.
Thanks to Steve for organising the walk and thanks to me for organising the trip, I thought it was a very enjoyable day and there were no fights, so that’s a win.
