A little trip to a few lesser-known places

 The sun was shining, and the local villages were calling. I needed to go and collect my meat and vegetables etc. from the Farm Shop that we use. It's about 12 miles from home............

..........0r twice that, and 3 hours from home in this weather.

Plus a few more history blanks to fill in. So, if you look at the two Kent pages, you will find more info on Aldington, Ivychurch, Kingsnorth and Snave-Wick (although the latter, I couldn't take all the pictures I needed, so I will have to go back at some point)

On my way to do the updates now...........

The County Town of Kent

Today, it was threatening rain (again!), so I decided to hop on a train and go explore our county town of Maidstone. I chose the train because bike parking in Maidstone is not easy to find.

All the years I worked on the edge of the town, I've never really explored it. The town centre is not too badly off for shops, and there are some lovely old buildings, in various states of repair. There's also some interesting history.

The town grew up around the confluence of the rivers Medway and Len, and there's a lovely walk along the banks of the Medway. The archbishops' palace is lovely, and the parish church of All Saints next door, is an imposing edifice

Sadly, I didn't have time to visit either the local museum, or the Tyrwhitt-Drake museum of carriages. So I will probably return in the winter time, when I'm looking for warm places to be.

For those who don't know, most of the traffic revolves (literally) around the river. The town centre is largely pedestrianised and all the vehicles are forced to go round the perimeter via a dual carriageway and a gyratory system which goes over Maidstone Bridge, and back via St. Peter's Bridge. The volume of traffic is horrendous and they only slow down when they're forced to.

And then there are ducks. To be precise mamma and 3 babies - intent on crossing 6 lanes of nose to tail traffic to get to the pond by the old Rootes building. And there was a workman and myself trying to hold the traffic so that she could cross safely, and then shepherding them along the railings to find a point where she could access the water. And we only got yelled at once! Most people were content to wait and had their phones out recording the little flock and its' human sheepdogs!

Just waiting for the camera to finish uploading, and then I'll add them to the Kent1 page. I probably won't get around to the words though until Sunday. I still have a lot of research to do 

The fair weather continues.................

 After last year's almost total wash-out, so far this year, I've been making a lot of headway on catching up with my history visits. This is my 3rd. trip out this week!

Today was a day for taking one of the smaller bikes, and finding strange churches in strange places.

Sadly, a lot of country churches are kept locked when not in use, due to them often being remote from their villages. (The Black Death has a lot to answer for!)

One I went in, had a notice just inside which read: 'Are you exploring on your own? Do you have a mobile phone? Why not let someone know where you are?' 

These trips I do, are my chance to have some 'me' time - just doing what I like to do, and enjoying my own company. 

However, as I left the church, and turned to close the door, I tripped over a boot scraper and fell flat on my face.  That made me think - I was OK, only my pride was hurt. But what if I had banged my head and was unconscious? I could have laid there for days, and nobody would know.

So from now on, when I am off by myself exploring, every time I stop somewhere, I will text my location to my other half, so that he knows where I last was, and at what time.  You never know..........

I'm on my way now to begin updating the Kent2 page. And there's a lot to cover

Just passing through...........

 This morning I picked my bike up after having new tyres fitted. The sun was shining, so of course, that meant I 'needed' to go and ride around 100 miles to scrub them in. 

Although it was purely a day for riding, I did take a couple of short breaks to go and find some points of interest.

So, go and check out the Kent 2 page under Birchington and Garlinge - only minimal info at the moment, but Birchington is on my list for a full study, and just for a little taster..................

Swiss Cheese..................

 No, not really, although I was tempted to have some with my salad. Little trip to Folkestone today, and lunch at Little Switzerland. 

If you don't know it, the east end of Folkestone is home to East Cliff, Little Switzerland and the Warren. East Cliff is  home to the East Cliff Pavilion venue, a Martello Tower and a small golf course. 

Past the East Cliff, is the Warren Country Park and nature reserve. Both that, and Little Switzerland above the Warren, are renowned for their reptiles. Yes, there are adders, but as long as you and your dogs don't disturb them, and you keep to the paths, they would rather slither away than have truck with people and canines. There's loads of lizards.

Little Switzerland, which lies halfway up the cliffs, is home to a caravan park with a smashing cafe open to the public. Unless you are staying there, the parking is only for customers of the cafe. You can't just rock up and go for a walk - there simply isn't room. If that's what you want to do, you will need to park down at the Warren.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures, on the Kent page under Folkestone

Sittingbourne, Murston and Bapchild

 Now, having spent some of my childhood in Sittingbourne, I knew not to expect much - and I was right. 

It was never a posh place, existing mostly because of its brickmaking industry, and to serve the Thames Barges putting into the quays along Milton Creek and the Swale.

Hard on those trades, came Kemsley paper mills  - which was started and owned by a distant relative. All this means that the town had a working ethos

So I didn't expect too much in the way of interesting history, other than that which exists because of my family. So you will have to excuse my odd reminiscences of the place, but it might give you a little insight into how the town used to be.

I 'm about to put it all on the Kent2 page, together with a little bit of Murston, and an even smaller bit about Bapchild, two small suburbs of the town.

Lenham - just wish this rain would do one

 Today, I had to be in Maidstone, for something that was only going to last about an hour, so I thought, as I was out that way, I would go end explore the pretty village of Lenham.

The village centres around a lovely square with a plethora of Tudor and Georgian buildings.

As usual, I started with the church, which is right on the square. However, I'd only been in there a few minutes, happily snapping away, when a lady came in and said it was starting to rain. So, not having waterproofs with me, I decided to cut my losses and make a run for home.

I reached home before the rain came to much, but what I had found up to that point, makes me determined to return to the church, where there is still much to investigate, and for a good walk around the village itself, to see what turns up.

Anyway, the few I took will be on the Kent2 page very shortly, and the words will follow at some point in the next few hours.

Battle - not just the Norman Conquest

 Battle Abbey, of course, is well known throughout the world, as the place where the Battle of Hastings was fought in 1066, and King Harold lost his life and his kingdom.

But visitors to the little Sussex town must be pleasantly surprised by the beautiful old buildings which line the High Street.

It's true that, outside of the Battlefield, there's not a lot of awe-inspiring history, but on a local level, there's much to see and admire.

I spent the morning poking about, and had intended to ride up towards Heathfield, recording the Polish Airforce Memorial just outside Netherfield, Mad Jack's Sugar Loaf between Brightling and Dallington, and the Jack Cade Memorial at Cade Street.

I did the first of these, but then the mist clamped down, and as it would mean parking the bike on the road for the other two, I decided to wait for safer weather. 

I'll hopefully go back later in the year, when the weather is more clement.

Sussex page is about to be updated..........................

Here and There in London

 So today, I decided to explore the area which comprises the very south of the London Borough of Camden.

It's a bit of an odd area, with no overall cohesion, covering as it does, places as diverse as Euston station and Bloomsbury Square. It has thus been difficult to put all my thoughts under one heading. 

So, I can include one or two random pictures under the heading of 'South Camden', and the rest will have to have their own headings, some with only one item in them.

I'm going to start by adding a bit more on the St. Pancras Hotel on the London1 page, and the rest will appear on London2

Why Wye?

 Why not? Twice a month, Wye has a smashing little Farmers' market. And unlike some of them, the stalls are all local produce. The stall holders are all lovely people, and every stall is different. 

I needed to go and top up on some of the things I buy regularly, and I had nothing else on today, so I thought I would combine it with one of my urban walks, and poke around a bit.

By the time I got there, it was drizzling quite badly, so I bought my produce and then decided to confine my research to just the old college buildings and the church, conveniently opposite the market.

You know what Rabbie Burns said about 'the best laid plans of mice and men?.......... the buildings are currently shrouded in scaffolding, and the church was closed today because some sort of audio recording was taking place.

I definitely need to return, as there is a lot of important local history contained within those walls, and the town itself is very old and well worth a look in depth. 

So for now, I'm putting a chapter on the Kent2 page for Wye, but it will only hold a picture of the outside of the church, and a little bit of tantalising history to be going on with.