I'm baa-aack!

I have survived the wilds of Margate! OK, so maybe not that wild but I was surprised, I had no idea that there were as many chav residents as there are in Essex. Is Kent the overflow county or something??

Brief report:-

The Good:-

Westbrook beach is a thing of great beauty. I don't know if it's always as quiet as I saw it, but certainly it seems to get overlooked in favour of Margate or Westcliff. The sand is perfect for sandcastles, there's a great lil' cafe on the promenade and when the tide is waaay out, there's rock pools to explore. I was a happy Mitchy :D (Yes, pictures will be forthcoming :))

I had two fabulous meals while I was there. One was the night I arrived where I stumbled over a place called Georgio's and had the most devinely cooked sirloin steak I've had in an age. The mini-meze starter was fantastic as well and they had Magners cider and I wasn't driving :D :D :D The other meal was a simple lunch in the town (it's juuuuuust about town size) of Westcliff. A nursery centre had a fun looking cafe attached so I went in and indulged in a pot of tea and a bacon 'n' cheese jacket potato. It was terrific and it cost about a half of what it'd cost in Herts :)

Made friends with a couple from Essex on the Friday and ended up playing pool with them for a while. We bonded over shared horror journeys down (see below) and the randomness of our coming to Margate :)

Read the bestest book - another great rec from jenni411! "The Mistress of the Art of Death" by Ariana Franklin. Historical mystery, set in the time of Henry II (12th century). I've seen reviews lambasting it's (lack of) historical accuracy but damned if it isn't a complete page turner. It was one of those unputdownable books where I wanted to save something to read at the beach this morning but ended up staying up past midnight last night to finish it :) I've already ordered the next two books in the series!

The bad (ish):-

The hotel - meh. Could have done better, will do better next time. The bed was just hard enough that I really didn't sleep well at all and woke up this morning shaped like a pretzel. The hotel is three star but it certainly doesn't get it for the single rooms - which probably explains why there are no photos of them on their website, just luscious pics of the larger suites. Harrumph.

Also, it was well away from Margate town centre. I walked it Friday night and was well knackered. There were no decent pubs in range, either, which was annoying, although the hotel did have a bar. Next time, I'll stay somewhere more central or maybe just go to Westcliff and Westbrook instead.

Weather - not great but not horrible either. Friday was heavenly. Saturday was overcast for most of the morning before finally giving in to rain around 3pm. I got some good beach time in before that though :) Today was much sunnier but there was a vicious wind that had a bit of an edge to it and you couldn't really get warm. Still had quality beach time :D

The Ugly:

The M25 on the way down was one of the lower circles of Hell. Never again. Friendly mousey advice to my friends - avoid junctions 27 to 28 until Summer 2012, the traffic even outside of rush hour is VILE. During rush hour, on a Friday before a Bank Holiday? *massive shuddering fit* Took me 4 hours to reach Margate, a trip I managed in just over 2 and a quarter hours today :P And that was through taking the long way home, bailing off the M25 at Junction 29 and eventually picking up the A414, after seeing continual warning notices of "delays" between J28 and J27: I decided to heed them :P

And now I'm home and in a minute there's going to be mighty mousey napping so I can catch up on some sleep. It was fun but it's good to be back :)

And I need a mousey on the beach type icon. Must upload my photos sharpish!