Tuesday 3rd October 2023

Fitful night’s sleep…I was woken around 0600 by a great crashing sound, as the binmen emptied the bottle bank of the pub opposite. Got up around 0800 and made tea, then dressed to venture into town to look for breakfast. Enjoyed eggs Benedict at the Royal Albion hotel, and discovered a plaque on the wall outside stating that Charlie D had stayed on many occasions in what must have been a house, later subsumed into the neighbouring hotel. 

After breakfast, I took a stroll around town in search of Bleak House, a large imposing crenellated house perched above the northern end of Viking Bay, with a first floor bay window which had once played host to Charlie’s writing desk. There's a memorial on the wall with a carved likeness of the great man. Also came across accommodation above an archway where he had stayed and written some of Barnaby Rudge. Made my way back to my digs, packed, and walked to my car…set off for Canterbury, and from thence to Herne Bay where I stopped to pick up a tea and a sandwich from the cafe on the old bandstand…sat on a bench overlooking the pier and drank my tea, then headed for Gravesend, and Northfleet. Got home around 1600. Aki cooked a chicken curry for dinner, which we ate with chapati and vegetables, with blackberry custard tart and spoom for dessert.