And we're off

Today I'm off for a short jaunt over to Guernsey. I'm going with Saga but it has been taken on by their sister company, Titan.

There are 13 of us and most are in their 80s ranging from wheelchair bound to, well let's say frail.

I'm probably the youngest by far. 

The person in charge and acting as our guide is also in her late 70s. I think this might be a bit too slow for me but we'll see what unfolds.

To be honest I've come for one outing more than any other and that's over to Sark.

The journey to the airport was easy until we reached the junction 9 turn off. 

Grid lock. 

A combination of a broken down van on the slip road and the rail strike; the queues were lengthy and slow.

We finally reached the traffic lights at the top of the off ramp only to be sent back down again onto the motorway. 

To cut a long story short we eventually reached a drop off point and leaping out the car I high tailed it up the ramp to Departures.

From then on it was easy. The flight was less than an hour, I managed to get some tea on board and we cruised at 15 000 feet so little ear popping.

The plane was one of those small ones, twin props with no more than 50 seats.

Guernsey airport is sweet and easy to navigate and before I realised, we were at the Best Western hotel.

I've been out walking and wandered up to the other end of the bay.

I've found important things like food stops, tea wagons and the harbour walks and ate at one of the small independent places along the coast. 

We are to meet up at 6.30pm to discuss the itinerary and then have dinner. 

Jury is out atm but let's see. Oh yes, Guernsey maybe part of UK but it's deemed abroad by EE so no internet. Oh well.

Time is looming for a short break

Time has slowly rolled round and this coming Saturday sees me taking the plane this time, to Guernsey for a week.

When I come back it'll only be 5 weeks until my repeat voyage, cruising down to Cape Verde and back.

House is ready for the house sitter, packing my case tomorrow and being collected at 9am for a Gatwick flight at 11:55am on Saturday.

Be good to get away after what seems such a very long time.

A wander along the Medway

Parking the car, as usual, in Allington, I walked down toward the locks where fresh and tidal are separated by active gates

It's an area of great activity with boats coming and going, stopping either at open moorings by the lock or pulling up by the Lock Café situated in the central grassy section of the lock complex itself. Open most days, I can recommend the teas, coffees and speciality teas on offer. They also do snacks. I think in winter they do hot stuff too but not sure about that.

Crossing the high bridge I looked downstream.

The towpath continues to Aylesford and it should be a lovely walk. Unfortunately, last winter saw bank collapse taking a section of towpath with it. Now, to continue, one has to cross a very busy dual carriageway with cars just off the M20; they take few prisoners. 

Passing the large boat yard many moorings are permanent with extra large 'cargo' vessels which once carried grain, cattle and coal around our shores and waterways nestle against small gardens and deep pilings driven deep into the mud.

One ex cargo boat is fully restored and makes a home which is much larger than a four bedroom apartment! Its massive and took more than a blink of the eye to walk past. The rigging, mast, anchor and running gear look as though it docked only hours before.

Fabulous. 

Like many rivers there has to be a castle tucked away somewhere. This one is Allington Castle, medieval in age and privately owned. It's used for functions, weddings etc and I suspect available for film backdrops; the images on the net are beautiful.

Some people seem to opt for the good life both ways with a small house plus their own moorings and boat. Nice way to do it if you can.

The path continues and takes you between what look like water meadows to your left and the river to your right. Some alleyways run up to villages which offer future exploration. 

All too quickly,the peace gave way to traffic noise, people shouting in the football stadium and building construction. 

Litter replaced blackberries and the noise of a growing development replaced the ducks.

To this point, the walk had been glorious but approaching the town itself made me realise just how much continuous noise we coped with each day.

I created the pink line.

If you live in the area of Maidstone

One place we'll worth visiting is the Notcutts outlet on the outskirts of Maidstone. It's plants are top notch and the café is always busy.

Easy to spend a fortune though; I kept mobe just under £100 so for me that's seriously doing well.

They have a beautiful show garden in there. I just wish I'd seen something like it when I was first developing my garden.

The area is more than just a garden centre, it's one half of a large shopping centre with many stores not only on the garden centre side but also the other side of the roundabout.

So back home with some plants for a friends front garden (tomorrow's jaunt over to Sheppey) and some pots for my indoor plants (which are now repotted).

I'm going to need stronger shelving soon!

Oddities spotted whilst out and about.

A letter box warmer spotted outside a school in Kings Hill

Dead box hedging spreading in the area. Just wish B+Q would stop selling the stuff.

Empty carpark at the supermarket

 during women's world cup final.

Home and ready for days out again

Been a while on this blog but I have been out and about; very local though.

Today its hot, so I've decided to come into Maidstone, just because it's an easy journey by car and bus.

First stop is The Eden, a really lovely café just off the main road.

Its situated in the old grand entrance to a hotel, long gone. Although much of the original was either demolished or bombed I'm not sure which areas like this entrance way still exist if you know where to look. Some places in Maidstone are really very old showing how much of a bustling market town it must have been.

What fascinates me are the two mercury lights which remain on come rain or shine. Glowing green, they give a glimpse into the past come Christmas time.

Talking about Christmas, yes, I've seen the first baubles being put on racks ready for sale along with the calendars and diaries for 2024.

Yep! Only just crawling into September with Halloween still to come and we've leapfrogged to December. 

Took myself off to the local "posh" garden centre (in other words, expensive) and had a look around. Much of the summer bedding is still available but I noted the veg plugs are in for autumn planting so it's that time already.

No, didn't buy anything just tea and fruit scone......a lovely it was too.

The final leg

We left Scrabster a little over thirty minutes early and pulling off we turned to pass between John O'Groats and The Orkney islands. 

With visibility good to clear we could train our binoculars onto the islands and see the occasional house or lighthouse.

We have just over 500 nautical miles to go before we reach Tilbury so tomorrow is another sea day, the last one before we all disembark and go our separate ways.

It'll be sad to say goodbye to Shirley but we are on another cruise together next year which should be good.

Before then I'm off to Guernsey for a week in September and then back to the Canaries and Cape Verde in November/December. 

This has been amazing. The only down side has been the changing of the times but to be honest I feel back to normal already so I've adjusted faster than I expected.

Oh well, one adventure comes to an end but others open.......so many to choose from, so many places yet to see.

paddling in the ice melt in Qaqortoq.