We Are Off,

to Folkestone,

 a seaside town on the Kentish coast, with quite a bit of history,

 which at one time was an important port for cross channel goods, 

 in later years it played an important role in the Second World War and in peacetime provided a port to rival Dover for the cross channel passenger and goods service, but Dover won out, all of which is here,

 so after the first part of our train journey, 

where we passed the Russian submarine on the River Medway,

 on to the next bit,

 and here we are Folkestone,

 we started our walk from the station,

 after getting our bearings form the bus map,

on the railway bridge this plaque, 

 the luckiest place on Earth, we will see in the next lottery draw!

 there was a vibrant display of flowers in front of the church,

 and I nearly forgot, 

 as we were wandering around Folkestone, 

 particularly near the harbour Diana made a short video, the highlights of which include me trying to lose weight after our meal by doing an impression of a steam train, also Diana terrorising some of the local inhabitants!

 back to the town, there was a local street market,

 and lots of shops,

 as we walked down the cobbled streets,

 there were so many quant shops to look at, the one on the right with a display above it,

 the whole town has an arts and crafts feel about it,

 looking back up the street,

 we continued down towards the harbour, 

 passing my favorite shop in any town, British and proud of it,

 I mention arts and crafts, there were a lot of shops selling just those, like this one,

with its sign high in the wall above,

with its board outside,

with on this side an artist joke,

 it was so nice strolling and looking at the contents of the shops, something I never normally do, I am guessing I am like many guys, we know what we want, we go into the shop and buy it, then down the pub, none of this looking in countless shoe shops, but here it was slightly different, well there were no shoe shops for a start!

 and I do enjoy looking at paintings in galleries,

 like this one,

 or shops selling prints,

 a bit difficult to see, but an original cover for a piece of the sheet music for The Third Man, one of my many favorite films, I was so close to buying it to put in my man attic,

 we passed the Big Boys,

 the street getting narrower,

 and a tad steeper, it will be hard work walking back,

 no cars in this street so why not extend your shop?

 I kept stopping to look,

 at shops,

 one more shop selling all manner of interesting things,

 and one selling clothes,

 a film I enjoyed, was a comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West, for myself it was so funny in so many places, and this shop display with its wax for moustaches brought back all of the fun of the moustache dance,

 we were coming to the end of the street,

 as it opened up at the seafront,

 where there was a delightful display, 

 of flowers,

 we were both hungry as we did not have breakfast, so this was a contender for us for lunch,

 but first a walk to see what else was on offer,

 it was low tide, it was in fact still going out,

 time for a quick pose,

 from some of the locals,

 one of the arms going out to deep water,

 many years ago looking down would have seen countless whelk shell, but now nothing but scallop shells, as they say, 'nothing stays the same forever', 

 under the viaduct, even Diana has to mind her head at the edges,

another contender for lunch,

 or this glass fronted restaurant, may be even the pub behind,

 looking into the harbour,

 lots of working boats,

 looks tempting,

 my turn for a pose,

 back to the boats in the harbour,

 where there was this little house floating in the middle of it, 

 I remember many years ago as my father retired along with a few others from Porters Paints, one of them, Keith, actually bought this public house to continue working and make a living in to his old age,

 as with most maritime towns an anchor is on display,

 a pose from Diana,

 looking at the harbour arm,

 no doubt as to where we are,

 ice cream, well later,

 and here is where childhood memories are made, Sunny Sands, no rocks or nasty tides, just a gently sloping beach full of sand, buckets and spades, 

 and there was quite a bit of sand on the promenade, presumably dumped there by winter storms, 

 we were blessed, the weather was so nice, 

 on the wall,

 and here she is,

 are you felling lucky? as the sign says there might still be gold out there!

 but this local is more interested in fish and chips,

 we made our way back, 

 past this couple making an awful noise, 

 we had come to a decision,

 we were going to eat here, 

 luckily there was a table free inside with a sea view right by the window, complimentary bread and paste,

 so a bottle of wine, yes it should be white,

 but when I saw the label with fish on it my mind was made up,

for our starters chicken liver pate for Diana,

 for myself, whelks what else? Folkestone has the best whelks in the UK, well that is what I think, so there it is,

 by now as we were late,

 the restaurant had almost emptied, 

 'Cheers!',

 some kayakers making their way across the harbour mouth, 

 looking over my shoulder we did indeed have the place inside to ourselves,

 for our main course, 

 fish and chips, which was delicious, again I almost ate all of the chips, something I never normally do,

 we were both so full we did not have a dessert, Diana had a coffee,

 but we both did enjoy the complimentary fudge and rock, a neat touch with the restaurant's name running through the stick,

 on our way out,

 a large light display caught our eyes, the meal including a discretionary 12.5% service charge was £86.00,

 back along the front,

 we made our way to the harbour arm, 

 up on the viaduct,

 the original railway tracks still here,

 as I was taking a few stills,

 Diana was busy with her video,

 but had time for a pose,

 looking back to the restaurant where we had just eaten on the left,

 in the distance Sunny Sands,

 I looked at the plaque, but could not see the artwork,

 blue skies, slight wispy cloud, what could be better?

 below us even the seagulls were taking a break, 

 and so did we, a quick sit down,

 then up and we noticed this,

a house on the harbour wall,

 similar to the one in the harbour,  

 we will have a closer look at it later, 

 but first along the railway tracks,

 to these two boards,

 about the Custom House,

 looking back inland, 

 what appears to be a huge house or hotel, 

 a few more seagulls landing, 

 and in the distance,

 the white cliffs of Dover, 

 and here is the house,

 one of the many arts projects, 

 that are in Folkestone,

 great fun,

 a pity I did not have a zoom lens as I could have got a closer photograph of its brother,

 OK so it is my turn now, 

 you can see the sun is out, look at my chrome dome!

 Diana had decided the seagulls, 

 had rested enough, 

 and had wanted them on her video,

 so up they had to go, 

 all except this one,

 the now unused Folkestone Harbour signal box,

 and railway bridge,

 we started our way back,

 the tracks still here, 

 with all of its crossings still in place,

 nearing the land,

 and now back into the street,

 and up we went,

 we were looking for a refrigerator magnet, but none were to be had, 

 until we found this gem of a shop, Barcode)(Buys, where we bought one making our trip to the coast compleat, and an intriguing shop to look round into the bargain,

 I love seeing things like this,

 where homeowners make an extra special effort to make the area look more attractive,

 and here we were, not quite out of breath, but for me very close, well it was a steep hill!

 and here is the wall,

 with so many hands, 

 think Max Bygraves, You Need Hands,

 not quite a match,

 at the end of the line the legend,

 which says it all,

 and we were on our way home, work seems to be going on to the submarine on the River Medway, there were a couple of tenders next to the submarine, and its list has been rectified, who knows it might be opening soon, could this be a secret submarine base for foreign powers, on the surface a tourist attraction, but what if it really does have missiles that work? over the the conspiracists it is then! 

 arriving home, magnet put in place,

we are going to need a bigger refrigerator soon!

and as promised Diana's video, where you can see me enjoying the railway trip home! I am only making this one post today as it took an age, back to our evening, we watched some of the Australian gold finding programs, two from Game of Thrones and we were then off to bed.