Tuesday 28th July pm

Left Canterbury and headed for Margate which is on the coast of Kent on the North Sea. It was a pleasant drive through farm land, mostly cropping and we got to Margate and parked on the quay. We went to the Turner Gallery where there was a free exhibition. We thought that we may have seen more of Turner's paintings having already been to his showing in Adelaide last year. Nope, there were two other painters exhibiting and an area where young artists could show works.

Back out onto the quay and we decided to go for a walk around the town. The tide was well out and therebwere a number of people on the beach but the wind was cold and coming off the North Sea.

We wandered the streets and past lots of empty shops and the whole area was very down at heel. There were lots of people around but not much to see.

It was getting late and we had a wee way to go to get back to our hotel. We set off and soon onto the M2 and then the A2 and after a few hiccups getting off the M2 too soon and finding a roundabout and getting back onto the M2 and then getting off again at the wrong exit got ourselves into a line of cars backed up from the set of lights that turned into London Road. Well it took about 40 minutes to come from Margate to here and it took another 40 minutes to get though this set of lights, through the next set to our hotel.

Haven't mentioned the shambles that the motorway M2 south to Folkestone and Dover is in. Because of the strikes in France by the farmers one day and the striking seamen the next day the trucks that are going to France by ferry or the tunnel are backed up in two lanes on the M2 from the south coast all the way back almost to Maidstone. That's about 40 miles. There are just truck and trailer and trucks for miles and the motorway is closed to all traffic so we have to find alternate routes to everywhere. The truck situation is referred to as "The Stack". And it seems that the French Government won't do anything about it at all!