Rocco needed a walk, and with the pub in the village a short walk through the fields, it made sense to combine the two.
Dog walk to the pub
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Category Archives: Holidays
Cadbury Castle
Better weather today, so we headed off along the narrow lanes to South Cadbury. After parking in a small car park and booting up, we headed up the hill to Cadbury Castle, an ancient hill fort.
Quite a steep climb to start, then the path contoured through woods around the hill:
As we climbed, the views got better:
Though Rocco seemed more interested in his sticks:
Further on, I climbed down a steep slope to grab a geocache, then we continued on:
As we circled around, the path gradually climbed up above the woods:
Eventually, we were at the top, with a viewpoint indicating distances to various things (and, because of the association with King Arthur, Tintagel 108 miles away!):
And Rocco waited patiently:
Finally, back down along the track to the car:
A nice little walk!
Charlton Horethorne
A bit of a drizzly day forecast today, so we decided to walk a pub in the next village for lunch.
This was at The Kings Arms in Charlton Horethorne – a rather posh hotel/gastropub.
Despite being much scruffier dressed than any of their other clientele, we were made to feel very welcome, and enjoyed a superb Ribeye Steak and a Pizza (not together!):
Rocco was well behaved of course:
A nice, relaxing day!
Somerset
We’re off to Somerset this week. A slightly fraught journey along the A303 past Stonehenge; not the slowest journey we’ve had, but certainly not the fastest.
Arrived in time for an excellent lunch in the local village pub:
Then just another mile to our cottage:
All very tranquil…
We were a bit early so went off for a short walk in the blistering heat:
Then unpacked and enjoyed the view from a shady tree in the garden:
Stourbridge
We’re off to Stourbridge today, with a diversion to Halesowen for some shopping.
We parked in the car park at Stourbridge Junction, and got the little train into town:
We soon found some Morris Dancers and stopped for a coffee.
Then onto another area with more dancers:
After all that excitement, it was time for a beer and the walk back to the station:
Then onto the glass museum nearby, where we watched a demonstration of glass blowing and looked at various glassware over the years:
A nice day out!
Birmingham
Off on the train to Birmingham today. Train travel is so much simpler without a dog…
A quick change at London Bridge and before long we were enjoying a coffee at St Pancras:
As it was a nice day, we walked the quiet backstreet route to Euston.
And we arrived at New Street a just a few minutes late.
We had an interesting lunch in a Korean BBQ restaurant, then caught a busy train to Kings Norton.
Margate
Much better weather today, so we decided to walk along the coast to Margate:
I even found a stick for Rocco (few and far between on cliff top paths):
The wind makes strange shaped bushes:
and the outer parts of Margate soon come into view:
Our path crosses many lower paths leading down to the beach:
and we’re soon by the main sands:
We were going to visit a couple of museums, but they were both closed. So we found a dog-friendly pub, but it didn’t have any cask beer, and finally found a pub that did – what a challenge!
Then it was time for (excellent) fish and chips on the seafront:
And despite his hungry look, Rocco had plenty:
We needed a loo, and Tina spotted a Micro Pub across the harbour, so off we went:
And then the walk home:
You can just see our hotel in the distance behind Rocco:
A lovely day!
Broadstairs Tuesday
A bit of a grotty day today weather wise. Rocco and I had an early morning walk along the coast in the drizzle:
After a hearty breakfast in the hotel, we headed off to the Hornby Visitor Centre, now renamed “Hornby Wonderworks”. All very pretty and full of publicity about Hornby, but fewer model railways than before:
We then popped in to have a chat with Northdown Brewery (who are on the same industrial estate as Hornby) – they are one of the suppliers to Orpington Liberal Club.
Then time for lunch at an excellent Marstons pub, sat in the middle of a retail park:
We then visited Gadds Brewery just up the road, again a regular supplier to Orpington Liberal Club.
Then back to the hotel for a cup of tea!
Later, we wandered to a local pub selling Gadds beer, but it was VERY noisy so we headed back to the hotel for a light supper, complete with an excellent Shephard Neame Low Alcohol Beer on keg, Noughty Bear.
Finally, the rain stopped, so we had a evening walk along the coast:
(Spot the dog!)
Reculver and Broadstairs
We stopped at Reculver on the way today; back of beyond down a narrow lane, but apart from a very expensive car park, an interesting area:
There are ruins of (rebuilt) towers left from an abandoned church:
Then onto Botany Bay, near Broadstairs, where we checked into our hotel. We’ve had an upgrade to a bigger room with a bit of a sea view:
And after settling in, time for another dog walk along the coast:
Followed by a beer in a clifftop pub overlooking the beach:
After a nice meal at the hotel, time to check out the sunset:
A good day!
Thames Path – Woolwich to Erith
A nice fine day today, and the trains were running, so Rocco and I headed off to Woolwich Arsenal (via Lewisham) to walk another section of the Thames Path:
We followed the same nice pedestrian route from the station to the Thames that we’d used when walking the Thames Path west from Woolwich:
And soon we were at Woolwich Pier, and headed east along the Thames:
Finally, we reached an unpaved section and a bit more greenery:
Then back to hard surfaces as we passed Thamesmead:
Across the river is Barking Riverside, which we visited in the summer:
Further on, we reached Crossness, home of the famous steam sewage pumping engines:
Then shortly afterwards, the modern equivalent:
As the route got more industrial, we passed many abandoned jetties:
Time for a break by Crossness Nature Reserve, with views of the Ford Dagenham factory across the river:
I’d watched barges with containers on heading up and down the river, these are moving rubbish from London to the Belvedere incinerator, which is also undergoing expansion:
The south bank of the Thames was becoming more industrialised, but the north bank more open by Rainham Marshes:
Nearing Erith, the Dartford Crossing comes into view:
Finally a short walk through Erith, which I last visited in 2016 for the start of my London Loop walk – see London Loop Walk 1 – Erith to Bexley
After a short wait at Erith station and a quick change at Lewisham, we were back home within the hour.
8.5 miles walking today.