LONDON TRIP 2019_20 Day Trip to Whitstable

Whilst in London seeing Jeantine I suggested one of our day excursions should be a trip to Whitstable. This is the town that Barb's Great Grandfather had left from to travel to Canada. I got in touch with Sarah Long, who with her husband had hosted Barb and I around Canterbury Cathedral back in 2016. Sarah & Bob offered to drive us from Canterbury the short journey to Whitstable.

So first up, it was across Clissold Park on a frosty morning to catch the 73 bus from Stoke Newington Church Street, to take us into St. Pancras station to catch the express train at 10am to Canterbury. We ended up having coffee at the same cafe stand that we had a coffee and croissant from our previous trip to Canterbury in 2016. It was a good run through to Canterbury and we had to cross over to other side of the station to find Sarah and Bob. Choosing the lift option we found some other Kiwis, who voiced appreciation of my New Zealand motif T-shirt, adding that even if they hadn't seen the shirt, our Kathmandu jackets were a give away. It was a quick drive through to Whitstable and we were soon parked and wandering about the streets of Whitstable

When I made contact with Sarah before we came, I had mentioned that Barbara's great grandfather Fred Humphrey had gone from Whitstable to Canada and so Sarah had done some online searching for the name Humphrey in Whitstable and seems there were a few Humphrey's about and I guess it was Census results that showed addresses that they occupied back in the day and this was one of the addresses Sarah had come up with

Sarah suggested we come back to shops later, after a walk along the shore line.

Whitstable from Ray Mankelow on Vimeo.

And seeing as Mother Kelly's craft beer shop had recommended I drop into the Neptune for a beer, we chose that place for lunch.

Well the Whitstable ale was a little underwhelming and I think I should've ordered the Ploughman's Lunch instead of burger and fries.

Barb was certainly disappointed to find the 'Whitebait' was not as we know it in New Zealand - tiny young fish usually served as a fritter, here the whitebait were as large as a herring. And fish is not usually Barb's dish.

That sign in the Neptune Pub certainly suggested Whitstable was a trading port as well as a fishing port. And this sign further along the beach reinforced that.

I had to climb up some steps over a sea wall to get close enough for this photo. And now cropped into two parts of English language

What a lovely sunny day with the morning haze across the harbour clearing later. Next day was raining so couldn't have been luckier for the day we chose. Being winter time it was out of season for the oysters, part of Whitstable's tourist drawcard.

Next to the decrepit boat were signs of renovations underway and completed, to capitalise on providing accommodation for summer visitors.

Certainly some money there invested in the vehicles

Past the fishing boats and heading back to High Street to discover how High Street used to be