Rye area weekend break in East Sussex and Kent October
2005 - page 2
Starting with a further look at our lovely welcoming
guest house in Ivychurch on Romney Marsh in the Kent countryside, on
the Sunday of our weekend break we took a rickety ride from Dungeness
to Hythe on the quaint narrow gauge Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch
Railway in Kent.
This is page two of two.
Rye 1 | Rye 2
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Here's our room at the Olde Moat House in Ivychurch in Kent.
Full of thoughtful touches and with helpful owners, we had a very
comfortable weekend break. We managed to fuse the lights one
evening!
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Breakfasts at the Olde Moat House were simply wonderful. Fruits,
homemade bread, muesli preserves and a cooked breakfast with individual
percolated coffee - excellent!
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On the Saturday evening of our weekend break we headed to the Woolpack
Inn in Warehorne, Kent arriving at 6pm before opening. We had a
delicious meal there, but sadly the staff seemed rather surly.
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Now this ugly brute is the diesel locomotive that took us on our
outward journey on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway from
Dungeness in Kent, a narrow gauge railway of 13˝ miles. Looking...
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...the other way along the railway platform, the small building on
the near left is the station building, and further left is Dungeness
Power Station.
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Being a narrow gauge railway, the carriages were rather small.
Even Mike had to crouch right down to get in, now that's a first!
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The station at Romney Sands is a passing point on Kent's Romney, Hythe
and Dymchurch Railway and we saw this miniature looking steam train
coming the other way. According to the Sat Nav our train reached a dizzying
max speed of... 23 mph!
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At journey's end at Hythe the locomotive was decoupled and moved round
to the front of the train for the return journey. That man and
son could've been Mike + Dad 30 years ago! Don't forget to see
our page of relevant UK tourist
websites.
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A quick squiss at the handy information point and we were on our way
alongside the Royal Military Canal into Hythe, a distance of about
half-a-mile. And a nice little walk it was too in the early
autumn sunshine.
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Phew - wot a scorcher in the Kent sunshine!
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We found this average looking pub in the centre of Hythe that was much
better than average on the inside. The Swan Hotel had a carvery
to which we availed ourselves and very friendly and helpful staff - a
pleasant change to other pubs we visited during our Rye weekend
break. Back at Hythe...
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...station and the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, we were very
pleased to see a steam locomotive in place to haul us on the return
journey to Dungeness. The train also had a shop carriage selling
the railway's own steam ale, so Mike had to buy a bottle, to keep as a
souvenir you understand!
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Once back at Dungeness the train driver oiled the diminutive steam
engine. Our weekend break was very enjoyable, staying in
that excellent guest house and visiting some of Kent's
attractions. After the somewhat uncomfortable and sooty ride we...
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...had a quick coffee in the Light Railway Café then returned to our
guest house for the final night of our weekend break. That's
Dungeness Power Station in the background; amazing to learn that this
part of Kent used to be under the sea 1000 years ago!
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Rye 1 | Rye 2
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