Wouldn't You Rather Be Beside The Seaside?

 My plan was to head south after Birmingham and visit some places that I had always wanted to, but never got around to before now.  

It has always amazed me that in England you can drive for only a couple of hours and you can be in a completely different region of the country.  Unlike Australia where you can drive for 2-3 hours and unless you live in Aubury/Wodonga, you'll still be in the same state!

This is a map of Kent in the south east of England.  It's sort of shaped like a dog's nose.  I used to work in Dartford, which is right on the border of Kent and London but because I always caught the train, I never went any further than Dartford, except for the one time that I fell asleep on the train and accidentally ended up in Gravesend! 

So this time, I had some time up my sleeve, a car and I needed to be in Sussex (the next county over) for Tanya's wedding on Saturday.  The timing couldn't be any more perfect.

I tried to take the coast road as much as I could to make the most out of the ocean view.  Unlike this couple ⬇  who were more interested in the sun than the view!  

At least they were outside.

My first stop was Margate, a seaside town, although I'm not sure if I would call this bit of seaside a beach as such.  That brown stuff you can see there is seaweed.

 They must get a bit of wind here off the North Sea as the horizon was littered with wind turbines.  

This was my little hotel.  The Smiths Court.  Apparently they like to "combine the relaxed informality of this century with the traditions and service of the last."

I can't complain about that philosophy, as the service was excellent, however the poor staff really had their work cut out for them with this funny, out of date hotel that Jack built! 

When I first booked with an internet company, the afternoon I was due to arrive there (not like me to leave things to chance!) and thought I was booking an ocean view room, however when I got there, the lovely lady at reception said, "Unfortunately it's not a sea view room."  So I was automatically disappointed, then she put me in a room that faced the back alleyway and had bird shit down the window - I mean those birds had gone to town!

So I called down to her and she wasn't fazed at all, she just gave me the keys to all the available rooms and said that I could choose which one I liked the best.

I chose the one above the original room.  It had the same layout, but a completely different feel about it.

 This was the view I could have had..... but instead I just sat in the bar (the only place I could get wifi anyway) and looked at it from there.  

Silver linings!