Whitstable weekends

 We are just back from a long weekend in a seaside town called Whitstable, which is in the county of Kent. It's just under two hours from us but involves the M25 motorway and bridge crossing which can be notoriously bad for traffic problems.  We were so lucky to have no holdups in either direction which can be considered a minor miracle!

We rented a very dog friendly Airbnb flat which was the whole ground floor of a house very close to the seafront.  The beach there isn't sandy, except for one long stretch which is only visible at low tide, but it makes for ideal conditions for catching oysters. Whitstable oysters are famous, but I can't bear the thought of eating one.  I guess you are either an oyster fan or you aren't!

There are lots of little alleyways in town, apparently used in the past for smuggling  and this one has a fun name

Apparently the local policeman was a rather portly gentleman and mischievous children would run down this narrow alleyway knowing he couldn't fit in it to chase them!  We discovered it shortly after enjoying a delicious freshly cooked doughnut in one of the cafes along the front and fortunately I still managed to fit between the walls!

Whitstable Castle was very close to our house and we enjoyed a lovely walk around there in the sunshine.  Boy were we lucky with the weather!  My shorts were seen out in public for the first time this year 😉

We didn't venture too far as it was just so nice to wander and explore the town.  We did go to the next town along and caught a beautiful sunset.

The only other place we visited was Reculver where there are the ruins of a Roman fort.  When it had fallen out of use, a monastery was built in its place in 669 reusing the brickwork from the original structure.  It's a very imposing structure even now it is derelict and a lovely place to walk around on a sunny afternoon.  

So that was a lovely break from our normal weekend routine.  It's so nice to live fairly close to so many coastal resorts.  I need to get the map out and choose our next destination!

Busy Bank Holidays

 Isn't it strange how one extra day at a weekend can make such a difference?  Even stranger when you are retired and every day should, in theory, be the same.

We had such a mixed bag of weather this weekend and unfortunately the day that we had invited all the family over for lunch (yesterday) was the day it rained.  No chance of getting the children out into the garden to run off some energy!  I still find catering for ten a bit stressful, but decided to reward myself by baking my favourite dessert - lemon meringue pie 😀

It was a weekend of sweet treats actually as we popped into a new local bakery on Saturday and discovered that they sell pastel de nata, which we love when we go to Portugal.  Coco was disappointed to find that we had only bought two and neither of them were for her!

It's a different week for us as we are going away for a couple of days, more on that next week!  But even though it's not for long and in this country, my packing list seems to be growing daily and most of the things on it are for Coco.  If only our weather was more settled and you didn't have to pack clothes for all eventualities!

I'm off to have my nails done very soon, I'm so pleased with the BIAB nail polish/gel that I've had this year and it doesn't seem to be spoiling the condition of my nails, in fact they look and feel very healthy.  I'm so glad I got back into the routine of having them done properly, I got out of the habit in the Covid years, which now seems quite a long time ago doesn't it?  

Hope you have a good week and I will probably be writing my next post in a week's time rather than my usual Me on Monday.