We Set Out,

with beautiful blue skies,

 the day could not have been better, 

 and being a weekday the traffic,

 remarkably light,

 we were soon rolling through the Kent countryside,

 and over the River Medway, 

 arriving here,

 OK one more of me, 

 and this is where we were, Sittingbourne, 

 I had passed it many times when I was Medway based, but never stopped in the town,

 we made our way past one of the churches in the High Street,

and found this stout fellow,

 the legend says it all,

back in my teens, this was the chain of shops so many Mods went to, Burtons the tailors,

 some of the shops having their name cast into the building they occupied,

 we had a walk in the square, just charity shops and a couple of cafes, 

 looking back not much in the way of traffic as the High Street had been semi-pedestrianised,

 another church at the end of the street,

 with a huge yew in its grounds, 

 and although it does not look it, so many daisies,

 we had planned to have a cream tea here, but alas it was not to be, none of the bakeries and cafes sold cream teas, we did find a nearby hotel that advertised them before setting out, so as we were now here we called them, just to make sure that there were open, but after going through their telephone menu we received the message, 'we are too busy to answer your call at the moment, press 3 for other options', so we gave up,

 although there were lots,

 of public houses we did not fancy pub grub,

 but what we did like the look of, was a local butchers shop,

 we bought marinated chicken in two flavours, a couple of hunters wrapped chickens, some lamb chops, a huge steak pie, gala pie and some local cheese, so that is us sorted for the next few meals! 

  we made the decision to go to the Isle of Sheppey, the last time I was here I was looking for fossils, when the lift bridge, on the right was the only way to get to the island, since then this new bridge has been built, how times have changed!

 down the other side of the bridge, 

 and on to country roads,

 eventually arriving at Leysdown-on-sea,

 a small seaside resort,

 catering for families,

 with huge arcades, as well as a family safe beach,

 so being beside the seaside,

 it had to be fish and chips, with a saveloy and gherkin,

 so eyes down and tuck in!

 Diana commented it was the nicest fish she had in a long time, cooked just right with no grease on the fish or chips, the meal with one coke was just a tad over £24.00,

 outside we went for a walk,

 past the shops selling all manner of beachside games, and of course buckets and spades,

 both sides of the street have amusement arcades,

 and one thing that Diana wanted,

 a soft ice cream,

after a meal of fish and chips, an ice cream and a walk to the sea side, what could be better?

 I liked the takes on the 'Keep Calm' poster,

and why not?

 we passed the last arcade,

 and made it to the sea wall, with it's storm defences, in the winter some of the estuary storms can be fierce indeed, in the 1950s nearly 60 people died in one storm in the River Thames estuary,

 but today was calm, 

 and bright,

 also in the good news front,

 the council here have a no tolerance attitude to inconsiderate dog owners, I guess because it is a family beach and the council does not want dog borne disease transmitted to its guests,

if only Bromley council could do the same in Beckenham Place Park, which has become the by-phrase for letting your dogs run free and never mind the mess,

 you need good eyes to see these, what at one time were going to become homes for millionaires, but were built as wartime defences in the Second World War, if you look at them closely they always remind me of the three legged fighting machines in H. G. Wells book War of the Worlds,

 also on the horizon, a wind farm, I have never quite worked out, if you take away all of the subsidies do they actually make electricity at a reasonable cost when there is no wind? 

 we looked towards Warden Point,

 the promontory there where I used to go fossil hunting, 

 time for a few poses, 

 it really was a glorious day,

 not too hot or cold,

 so time to make a move for home,

 and we were on our way

 approaching the new bridge, the old one looking like a modern day Stonehenge, 

arriving home after our evening meal it was feet up for Reservoir Dogs, which we both thoroughly enjoyed, although admittedly a bit gory, we rounded the evening off with two from Game of Thrones, and with the end of that we were off to bed.