Had a night in Friday night, in preparation for our big day out on Saturday. I'm aiming for six days a week not drinking, and wanted to be fresh for our Saturday out. For my birthday Clare bought me tickets to Greenwich comedy festival, and that day finally came round.
First parkrun, just covered that in the previous post.. Got the bus there so I could walk to Folkestone Central train station after, picking up Clare at Folkestone West. She had a bag (our new EastPak Tranverz small wheely case 1 which we are still wheely pleased with) with a change of clothes for me plus our overnight stuff. Busy train, got off at Stratford for a controversial new route to our destination. So actually might have got a slightly cheaper train ticket if I hadn't stumbled on autopilot into buying the regular ticket to Kings Cross. We walked round the outside of Westfield to the bus station and got a bus down to Crossharbour on the Isle Of Dogs. From there we could walk in to Greenwich. Via a pub! Wasn't sure what we'd find but we passed one that looked OK but then looked online and found a better rated one another street down. The Ferry House says it is the oldest pub on the Isle of Dogs:
The Ferry House has stood on the Isle of Dogs since 1722 - certainly the oldest pub on the island, and quite probably the Island's oldest building in continual use.
Nice friendly place, real ale, we sat in the garden. It had old urinals as planters. Then just a walk through the foot tunnel to Greenwich. Next some lunch at The Green Cafe, we always go here when we're in Greenwich but usually for breakfast. Clare wanted a salad, and they did good salad here. I had a vegan club sandwich. Could have done with some chips with it, but nice. Next checked in at the Novotel, then walked to a new pub for us. We've done most of them in Greenwich we think but hadn't been to The Cutty Sark (the pub). This claims to be the oldest pub in Greenwich. Just coincidence we went to two pubs in a row that make claims like this.
Nestled on the banks of the River Thames at Ballast Quay, The Cutty Sark has been a beloved institution for many years, offering top-notch seasonal dishes made from premium British ingredients, complemented by exquisite wines from around the world and real ales. Our menu boasts the best seafood in Greenwich, served fresh daily, and on Sundays, our skilled crew prepares a comforting roast fit for any sailor’s appetite.
Another real ale, and very nice too. This one is very busy. We walked past the Trafalgar Tavern to get there, where we went last time, it's smaller but about as busy as that one. Then a quick walk to the Maritime Museum.
The comedy festival was in a big tent in the grounds of the Maritime Museum. It was very well organised, they needed to be as they had a quick turnaround of artists and punters. They were doing three shifts a day, with four or five comedians on each shift. We had five, including compere Mancunian compere Rachel Fairburn, then Shaparak Khorsandi, Lily Phillips, Red Richardson, and Alan Davies. All excellent, very funny, this was a really good show, absolutely no filler here. Thank you the wife!
After the comedy we went for dinner at The Prince Of Greenwich and also a game of Scrabble and two excellent pints of Black Sheep. Then a night cap at Davy's Wine Vaults, and finally back to the hotel.
A really great day, even without our boys.
This morning, back to The Green Cafe for a cooked vegan breakfast, the DLR back to Stratford via Canary Wharf. We walked around Westfield shopping centre but nothing was opening until midday I think, so no shopping. Then to the train to find it was cancelled! Trespassers on the railway they say, at Dover. This must be code for something. So a delayed journey back changing at Ashford, and then picked the boys up.
Had a succesful Tesco bin food run today, free vegan burgers and chips for my tea tonight, plus some free ready meals for the freezer, will have for lunches later in the week, and also some potatoes, corn on the cob, and some chicen gyozas for the boys to have with their tea. Also bought the new Richard Osman book while I was there and had my discount.
Back to not drinking for the rest of the week I think, and ironing some uniforms ready for school tomorrow.
Sunny and a moderate breeze, 13 - 19℃.
I saw Alan Davies probably four times; QI Television recording @ venue undefined (2007), Venue 150 at EICC (2012), Gilded Balloon 30th anniversary gala @ Gilded Balloon (2015), and National Maritime Museum (2024), though I still have some bragging tagging to do so this may go up.
⬅️ Parkrun 165 :: Hostel shocker ➡️
Paul Clarkeʼs blog - I live in Hythe, Kent. Wed + father to 2, I'm a full-stack web engineer, + I do mostly js / Node, some ruby, python, php etc. I like pubs, running, eating, home-automation and other diy stuff, history, tree stuff, TV, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.
Yep, deliberately unstyled.