Saturday - Yes! It's holiday time yet again! We're off down south today. Brilliant journey .. M1, A57, A1, A14, Cambridge.

Lovely and sunny in Cambridge. We explored the winding cobbled streets of the city centre and took in the splendour of the university college buildings, chapels and churches. Then a smooth journey on to our hotel at Dartford Bridge.

Sunday - First stop today:- Rochester on the Medway river. A quaint town with a lot of history going back to Roman times. Charles Dickens lived nearby and used the city and some of its buildings in his books.

We visited the art gallery and 2 minutes later the castle where we spent much longer. Commanding views of the river, bridges and of the Cathedral. Lovely in the bright sunshine. An impressive stone keep and stone wall enclosing the bailey. There were also some young actors pretending to be attacked by wasps.

Then on to Canterbury. Again a lovely quaint old town with long cobbled streets, old towers and gates and of course the magnificent cathedral where Archbishop Thomas Beckett was martyred. The Cathedral was equally impressive inside but our visit was a little rushed because we had to return to the car to extend our car parking time.

Monday - Today we visit London by train. Getting off at London Bridge we walk west past St. Paul's and on to Trafalgar Square. Then on to Buckingham Palace and through the park to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.

We are now getting rather hungry and head for the Covent Garden area. Very busy and lively with the street entertainers and the market. We have a hazlenut cappuchino with toasted panninis at Caffé Vergnano 1882. Then a further wander round Covent Garden.

Next on to Oxford Street. It's a very long walk along the busy streets. No real time for shopping, mainly window shopping and experiencing the hustle and bustle. We made a full day of our visit and were quite tired on our return to the train station.

Tuesday - First stop Margate. Nice beach, nice clock tower but the town is a dump. Very run down. Then on to Sandwich, a town with considerably more charm. It was pleasant just to wander the streets reading the panels describing the history of the buildings. Later we watched a boat pass through the swing bridge.

Next Dover. Very pleasant in the warm sunshine with the castle overlooking the town and the bay. A clear day with France visible across the Channel.

Finally the Bluewater shopping centre. With its lakes and leisure areas it beats even Meadowhall.