| In August 2007, my
wife and I had a short break in Kent, based in Canterbury. The weather
at the time was poor, with both long spells of rain and cold winds from
the North East. On Monday 20th August, it was raining hard in the morning. Nevertheless we decided to head for Ramsgate in the hope that as the day went on, the weather would improve. We caught the 10.51am train from Canterbury West, which got us into Ramsgate on time at 11.11am. By this time the rain was heavier than ever, and the station forecourt became flooded. By 12 noon, the rain appeared to be easing, so we got on a bus down into Ramsgate town. By this time the rain had stopped, and we were able to walk to the far end of the harbour, before heading back into town. We didn't particularly rate Ramsgate, so we decided to get on a Margate Link bus, as far as Broadstairs. By this time the sun had appeared, and we spent a hour or so at this very pleasant resort. At around 4pm, we headed for the bus stop, with the intention of getting back to Ramsgate in good time to have a coffee before returning to Canterbury West on the 16.50 train. Now the "Margate" Loop, operated by First Group Buses is in effect three different routes between Ramsgate and Margate. One route includes Ramsgate Railway station on the route to Margate, another route includes Ramsgate station southbound from Margate, and the third route misses out Ramsgate station altogether. |
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| There was a detailed timetable in the Broadstairs
bus shelter, from which it appeared that the bus we needed would be the third one. But when the first one arrived we asked the driver whether he went via Ramsgate station, and he replied "Yes, jump on". What he didn't tell us that the station stop was on the return journey. So we arrived eventually at Ramsgate station one minute before our train back to Canterbury West was due to depart. And by the time we got to the platform, it was just departing. Never mind, we thought, the trains run half hourly. So we went to the Buffet and had a coffee. Meanwhile, on the station arrival board, there were signs of problems. 2 trains from Charing Cross, via Ashford, were shown as running late, then later still. Then came an announcement that the a tree had come down and that services on the Canterbury and Ashford line were suspended. So we had no train back to Canterbury. We were wondering about a bus, when an announcement came "Passengers for Canterbury should join the Victoria train at Pkatform 3, then change at Faversham for a connection to Canterbury East". So we jumped on the 8 car Electrostar, headed off around the Kent Coast past Margate, Herne Bay, and Whitstable, then alighted at Faversham. We then crossed over to the eastbound platform, and within 10 minutes or so, the Dover bound class 465 unit came in, and we were back into Canterbury East by 6.30pm. And since Canterbury East station was much closer to our hotel than Canterbury West, we were back by 6.45pm. Well done, South East trains! |
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