We left Rocco with his favourite dog-sitter and headed off to Rye on the train.

Our first train was from Orpington to Sevenoaks, where we had time to grab a coffee before our next train:

Following the route the Eurostar used to take before the High Speed line was built, we soon arrived at Ashford International – the “International” platforms on the right looking rather neglected these days:

Our little diesel train was waiting for us:

And soon we were heading off across Romney Marsh:

As Rye station is on a single track, the hourly service in each direction arrives at the same time to cross over, so the station was surprisingly busy:

It’s a short walk up the hill into the town

We visited Lamb House, a National Trust property that’s only been open since 2018. An interesting house and lovely gardens:

Then through the cobbled streets and paths to St Mary’s Church:

It was now time for a beer, so we walked down the hill a bit to the Ypres Castle Pub:

Then a quick look at the view from the castle:

We retraced our steps back into town and found another pub (The Standard Inn) for an excellent lunch of fish and chips:

After lunch, we explored the rest of the town on our way back to the station:

There’s a lovely little preserved Signal Box at the station:

After a short wait, the train arrived to take us to Hastings, where we caught a fast train back to Orpington.

A lovely day out!

We had planned to continue walking the Jubilee Greenway path around London (our last stage was back in 2018!) from Woolwich to North Greenwich.

Unfortunately, a derailed train decimated the service to Woolwich so we decided to skip those sections for now and start from London Bridge. Our fast train was cancelled, so we had to use a slow (and quite busy) train to get to London.

The Jubilee Greenway path is very close to London Bridge station – you can see the marker disc in the pavement:

Eventually we reached the river near the memorial to the London Bridge bombing:

Then stopped for a coffee at a cafe in Clink Street, named after the prison that was there:

Now following the river path (which was a bit too busy for Rocco to be off the lead), we passed the rebuilt Globe:

and lovely views of the river and city:

Finally, there was a patch of ground by the Tate Modern where Rocco could run around:

The tide was low enough to expose a beach, but decided against Rocco getting muddy and wet!

The OXO tower has now been re-purposed as apartments:

Eventually, we reached Southbank, which was quiet here but VERY busy by the London Eye:

And the shiny new Big Ben:

We’re now on Jubilee Greenway Section 9, with the Houses of Parliament looking glorious in the sunshine:

Behind the wall on the right is St Thomas hospital, and the wall is now a Covid Memorial:

We crossed Lambeth Bridge and decided it was time for a beer. Luckily there was a pub in a fairly quiet street not far from Millbank with some tables outside. And then on to Victoria Tower Gardens to eat our lunch.

The route then goes past Westminster Cathedral and Parliament Square (both busy with tourists). Rocco had a bit more “off lead” time in College Green:

Shortly after, we reached St James’s Park and walked around the lake.

A lot of the paths were quite busy with tourists and waterfowl, but Rocco excelled himself off lead, even walking to heel occasionally. But managed to somehow find a muddy puddle, much to the amusement of passers by.

We then stopped to cool down under a plane tree:

From there, it was a short walk to Buckingham Palace, then to Victoria Station and a train home.

A very interesting day out, but quite warm at times!