Taking My Time to Get to Work

Tuesday is travel day for a Wednesday meeting, so the goal for today was to make it up to Derby.  However, since I hadn’t planned to go into work, it was also a day of vacation, so I had all day to check into our hotel.  I had plan that included several stops, knowing I had to either be at certain places by certain times.  So we packed, got on the road and headed up the coast to see what we could find.

Our first stop was the village of Deal, a beautiful seaside town that had a stone beach and a pier.  We stopped in for breakfast at King’s Coffee shop where we both got Americanos (watered down espresso) and I got a bacon and egg bap (British for a small roll).  Then we went for a stroll down to beach.  The sky and the water were both crystal clear.  We walked out on the pier, wondering if a group of kids were really going to jump down into the ocean (don’t do it, it’s a long way down).  We noticed that there were white cliffs both north and south of us, and we both wished we had a few extra days to explore some more.  Oh well, we took a nice walk along the beach, enjoyed looking at the seacoast, and went to explore a couple of castles (Deal and Walmer) before heading back on the road.  So we drove up to Ramsgate (more cliffs, more seacoast and I’m sure there were plenty more pubs, maybe next time), popped on A299 to head to our lunch stop, the town of Faversham. 

Faversham is another seaside town, larger than Deal, and home of Shepherd Neame brewery and one of Roger Protz top 25 pubs in the UK, the Anchor Inn (http://www.anchor-pub.co.uk/).  We stopped by the brewery on the way into town, and even though they only served their cask beer to those who were on the paid tour, they did over bottles and memorabilia (did I really need a Bishop’s Finger tie?).  In honor of this trip I picked up a bottle of Canterbury Jack and Kent’s Best, two local beers that will be great later when I’m on assignment.  We headed over to the Anchor Inn, finding a seat in their garden (and relocating for the ladies group with red hats).  The 17th-century Anchor Inn is nestled among medieval streets, sitting by a quayside and has a large selection of beers from the impressive local brewery, Shepherd Neame.  I had a Greek salad, paprika haddock (I eat a lot classier when Jenn is with me) and the Kent’s Best on cask.  We got dessert, but had to wait longer than my plan allowed, so we took the chocolate cake to go. 

I needed to get on the road to make it around London before rush hour so that we could make it to our next destination before they shut the gates.  Jenn was a huge admirer of Princess Diana, having followed her life from her wedding until her untimely death.  She is buried at Althorp (http://www.althorp.com/), the Spencer family home and we knew that the last visitors were admitted at 4PM.  It was on the way to Derby, right off the M1, but we got stuck in traffic and we were cutting it close.  We turned down a back lane (Garmin just called it road), raced along, and made it to the gate just as they were getting ready to shut it.  Whew, just in time.  We went to the house after seeing some of her heirlooms, including her wedding dress, and then to the gardens where she is buried.  You can’t see her final resting place since it is concealed on an island (some final privacy for the Lady who had very little in life) but there is a memorial where folks can pay tribute.  The whole scene was serene.  The fact that we were the last visitors of the day gave us some quiet time to share the experience.

We headed north, and it was getting close to dinner, so I wanted to share one of my favorite pubs with her where I knew we would get a good dinner.  So we headed over to the Victoria (http://www.victoriabeeston.co.uk/) in Beeston, parked our car and beat the dinner rush.  We split an order of hummus and olives, while I followed it up with a cheeseboard.  Also, the Vic is a free house, so they always have a great selection of local beer on cask.  Today I went with a Nutbrook Heir to the Throne, obviously a nod to the new Prince, while Jenn went with her new favorite beverage, Strongbow cider (conveniently available in the US).  We sat back and relaxed, enjoying both people watching and imbibing, and were able to reflect on the time we were able to spend together.  It was a great evening.

After finishing dinner, it was time to get to my home away from home in England, the Hampton Inn at the Morledge.  It will be nice not to have to pack up in the morning and relocate our stuff to a new place.  I’m looking forward to getting to the office to find out what is going on, but I’m even more excited about coming home to Jenn at the end of the day to see what else we can find.  Cheers! – 6327/14389

 
“Give my people plenty of beer, good and cheap beer, and you will have no revolution among them.” – Queen Victoria