Day 28 – London – Cliffs End

This morning I was on the go early but both Stewart & Jeanette had both gone off to work by the time I was out of bed. I had some toast and sorted out the rest of the items I needed to take with me before heading out the door.

It was raining as I left the house and I walked up to the shops so I could put some money on the Oyster travel card Stewart & Jeanette had loaned me. The Oyster card is a card that you swipe as you get onto government transport to save having to hand over money each time you travel.

At the shops I was able to get a Pringles can I did not have and then waited at the bus stop until my bus came along. I only had to travel about 8 stops along the route before I got off at Morden South train station.

I had to get my ticket I had pre-purchased on last week. The station is un-manned and has a ticket machine at the entrance to the station. You are required to put the credit card you used to buy the ticket into a slot in the machine and then type in your booking reference. The machine checks that the card and the booking number match and then prints out the ticket/s you require.

I had ten minutes to wait before the train arrived. Then it was thirteen stops before I arrived at St Pancreas Station to change to get the train to Ramsgate. The train I took four years ago for the run to Ramsgate left from a different station and was a lot slower train than this one. St Pancreas Station is the start – finish point for the Eurostar Rail in London and the train I was taking this time was a lot better service stopping at only selected stations and it took only one hour twenty minutes to get to Ramsgate.

As I got off the train Mel was waiting for me to come off the platform and we drove around the town to pick up Jim who was doing some business in Ramsgate. We drove back to their home and talked for most of the afternoon catching up on the last four years. We speak every couple of months on the phone but it is not the same as being able to talk in person.

I went and laid down for a while and had a nap in the late afternoon before we went out for dinner to a new pub that is built next to a hotel near where they live. It was a good meal I had a steak and onion pie that was lovely with mashed potato.

After dinner we went back home and talked some more before watching the late news before I went to bed