A walk in the woods

Steven and I spent yesterday enjoying the sunshine whilst walking in Kent. We drove out in my car, put the roof down, turned the music up and only got a little bit lost.

web_034 My car, posing at the foot of Snowdon, not longer after I bought it.

I’d forgotten just how much fun the MG-TF is to drive. Not to get too technical, it’s got a reasonably powerful engine, low centre of gravity and lots of torque meaning that you can throw it around corners and bends. Also, the engine always seems to have that little bit more to give when you put your foot down. I’m not sure I’ve ever managed to have it flat out on British roads. Of course, all this is done while driving sensibly and carefully, not endangering myself or other road users (no matter what my passengers sometimes say).

The walk itself was lovely. I would link to it on Kent County Council’s site but until it’s been updated with the corrections that I’m going to email them, I would hate to be responsible for anyone else attempting it with the current directions. For example, “14.Turn right, then take the next left – a bridleway into the woods.” should really have said “14. Turn left, then right – a bridleway into the woods.” Thank you very much to the local with the dog who managed to put us on the right path! I realise that the council can’t be held responsible for farmers taking down the old fences (with waymarkers) and replacing them with new ones (without waymarkers) but getting left and right the wrong way round in a walking guide is just bad.

There are no pictures from the walk, unfortunately, as the batteries in my camera had died. I discovered this trying to take a picture of what was described in the guide as “a small metal bridge”. For once, the council were absolutely spot on, the bridge can’t have been more than two feet long.

Since we were in the area, we decided we’d continue on (by car) to Canterbury once we had finished the walk and wander round the city before finding something to eat. I love Canterbury; it is one of the few towns that every time I go, I find myself thinking, “I could live here.” It is a pleasant mix of historic town with student town and has a decent-sized town centre without being too big. It doesn’t hurt that it is very pretty, either.

It also has an Oxfam bookshop, which is either a blessing or a curse. I picked up a couple of books to scan and submit to Project Gutenberg, which I’ll post about later.

Having dragged ourselves out of the bookshop, we ended up in the fantastic Cafe Mauresque restaurant for dinner. This is a really nice Spanish/North African restaurant serving cous-cous, tagines, tapas and paella. I couldn’t resist the lamb tagine but when I saw the size of the portion, I wished I hadn’t bothered with a starter! The main courses look expensive but considering the amount of food and the quality, they’re well worth it. The lunch and tapas menus look like excellent value, as do the desserts but there was just no space left to try them. Maybe next time.