Blog ≫ 2024 ≫ Slightly disappointing day in Dover
Yesterday's big walk to Dover did not go exactly to plan... for a start we delayed and delayed to try and avoid some looming bad weather. We eventually set out at 1pm instead of 11am, as the bad weather patch kept moving in the forecast. The actual minute that I started walking down the road though the heavens opened, there was a lot of rain. We were soaked by the time we got to Sandgate. I was not wearing my biggest coat, that would be too heavy and hot for walking, and my other coat needs rewaterproofing I think. It's not letting water in all over, but it is at the sleeves. Also one of my feet got wet. I did at least have my Rohan "dry bags" on, so my legs were dry. When we got to Sandgate we just decided to get the bus all the way there.
At least this bit was good, there's a £2 limit on bus fares still, so we could get all the way there for cheap. The bus we were on kept threatening to break down, we thought we were going to get turfed off, but it did make it.
First stop Gregg's in the town centre, for a vegan steak bake. I had not had lunch, instead I had packed snack bars for the walk, but this hit the spot.
We aimed for The White Horse, a pub I'd always had my eye on, it's supposed to be good. It was quite bustling inside, and it is very old, it should have been good. But, no ale. They had two pumps, but no ale available, so we did not stay. I see there is a sign up "publican wanted", so not sure what this means for the future of the place. I would like to give it a go another time.
We went straight from there to The Hoptimist, as we knew it would be good. It's a micropub, and was good, though the first beer was a little bit odd. The other disappointment was that we just stayed here. Good as it was I would have liked to try some other places. I'm not sure there is anywhere else in Dover that is good. Dover is just generally disappointing.
From the pub to curry, don't know where I got the idea we might be having an Italian. We had seen Calcutta Port earlier and while it did not look that promising it sounded good from the menu we had picked up. They say vegan! They have a special vegan menu and the main menu marks everything that can be done vegan. I am often ordering Indian food with my fingers in my ears going la la la it's all vegan surely. This time I know it was vegan, and it's actually Bangladeshi too. I went for a jackfruit biriani and samosas, and it was good, but not the cheapest. I'm looking at the menu again now and it's makign me hungry again. I would recommend it.
The journey home was a bit slow. It was a forty minute wait for a bus so we tried the train. By the time we'd bought tickets we'd missed the train so went and got the bus anyway. There were revenue protection guys at the train who were confused about whether we could have bought the ticket on the train. Bus was better anyway, as it dropped me at the bottom of the road and was only two quid, whereas the train was six quid and would have involved a forty minute walk,
When I got in Clare and the boys were watching old episodes of Knightmare. Aftter they'd gone to bed I watched lots of 1980s Top Of The Pops.