Sampling Seafood in Wonderful Whitstable
Sampling Seafood in Wonderful Whitstable is the final instalment of A Brummie Home and Abroad’s South East Road Trip Travel Diaries. To read more about our time spent in Brighton, click here, and for our trip to Rye, click here!
It’s a short journey from Rye to Whitstable, so we make a seaside pitstop at Herne Bay on the way. It has the cutest little pier with lots of traditional stalls; we grab a quick local craft beer and watch the world go by.
We make the short drive to Blean, which is where our next accommodation is located. Via Tesco, for essential breakfast supplies. We get stuck in a long tail of slow-moving traffic thanks to roadworks, but still manage to miss the entrance to the site. No problem, we eventually find somewhere to turn the car round. And then we miss the entrance again. We drive past the entrance FOUR times before we finally make the right turn. Mr Fletche is not a happy bunny.
Where we stayed
You can read all about our stay in Gulliver the Quirky Camper Van here!
We unpack the car. And then quickly pack it back up again when we realise that storage space is at a premium in Gulliver. There’s a moment of panic when we can’t shut the rear van window; I have visions of one of us (me) rolling out in the middle of the night. A quick phone call to host Michelle and she reassures us that it just needs a firm tug to close.
We have a 5pm reservation for dinner in Whitstable so there’s no time to relax and enjoy our new surroundings. Instead we head out to find the bus stop. The driver waits patiently while I wave a bank card at him but don’t announce where we’re heading. Eventually though, I have a ticket in hand and we’re headed to the seaside.
Eating, Drinking and Dodging the Showers in Whitstable
The bus safely deposits us in the middle of town just in time for our booking. With some COVID restrictions still in place, I wanted to make sure that we had somewhere booked for dinner on our first evening. Even three weeks in advance, Harbour Street Tapas could only just squeeze us in for a reservation at opening time, with no other time slots available that evening. And at 5pm all tables were full, and they were turning away hopeful diners who were deciding to take a risk on finding a walk-in slot available.
If our menu has a Spanish-focused flavour, then naturally we embrace it by ordering a carafe of sangria. The tapas dishes come thick and fast: a charcuterie board of cured meats, juicy grilled tiger prawns, succulent lamb cutlets, the classic smoky patatas bravas. Every dish is cooked to perfection, and we are happy to release our table before our allotted end time to allow someone else to enjoy a tapas feast.
By the time we emerge, grey clouds are looming and the rain from Brighton threatens to follow us. Naturally our weather app gave us no indication of this so I am suitably underdressed. We wander around Whitstable’s streets for a while, getting soggier and soggier. We spy an empty table inside the Twelve Taps and decide that the only sightseeing we will do that evening will be at the bottom of a beer glass
Our Canterbury Tales
It has rained on and off throughout the night, and everything is a little grey when we wake. Even Gulliver’s brightly-painted exterior now gives off rainforest vibes as raindrops bulge on the wind chimes. Rather than tackle yet another seaside in the rain, we decide to head off to the big city. We have this bus lark sorted now.
The Triangle Bus Route connects Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay with buses running every 15 minutes throughout the day. It takes around 25 minutes to travel direct from Canterbury to Whitstable. We got the DayRider ticket for £5.20 each which gives a day’s unlimited travel on the route (and other Stagecoach buses in the region).
Canterbury is famous for Chaucer, and for it’s beautiful cathedral looming large over the city streets. We accidentally stroll down Butchery Lane which gives us one of the best views. The rain persists as we meander down picturesque cobbled streets, past beautifully preserved half-timbered buildings, independent boutiques and historic pubs. There are lots of people milling around waiting to enter the cathedral, but we decide to seek shelter in Garage Coffee instead.
Miraculously the torrential rain gives way to a persistent drizzle. We decide to take a punt on a river cruise (see what I did there?) but they can’t give us a booking for a couple of hours. I think we would have gotten more out of the city with a guided tour; it’s a city with so much history that we really didn’t appreciate with our spontaneous wanderings. We grab a quick drink at The Old Buttermarket before getting the bus all the way back to Whitstable for a late lunch.
Heading back to the seaside for seafood
Whitstable is famous for it’s oysters. Despite attempting to pop my oyster cherry in Malta, I’m still an oyster virgin, so where better to try my first one? There’s plenty of choice in Whitstable, but the sun’s finally made an appearance so I select a single solitary rock oyster from The Forge, located right on the seafront. Mr Fletche turns his nose up. I turn out to be quite the oyster fan. Tempted as I am to go back for more, instead we get a generous portion of scampi, chips and a local beer.
Cautiously optimistic about the evening sunshine, I am excited to return to Gulliver and try out the hot tub. Remembering how long it took us to heat our tub at Middlestone Farm, we hop back on the bus. Mr Fletche leaves me on hot tub duties. After all, he’s still not entirely sure what the point of a hot tub is. However, I am clearly not to be trusted as after 10 minutes of adding water I realise that the plug isn’t in. Finally we’re getting somewhere, and Mr Fletche decides to take over fire-stoking duties.
It reaches the recommended optimum temperature. We strip down to swimwear and tentatively step in. It is definitely warmer than our previous hot tub on that sub-zero night in April. Even Mr Fletche starts to come around to the joys of a hot tub. We’ve cut off the oxygen to our fire. Yet it continues to get hotter. And hotter. We may be in the land of great seafood but we fear we are in danger of boiling like a lobster. We dress and pop to our local pub The Royal Oak for a couple of drinks. When we return, the water is still hot enough to dangle our feet in, even if the thought of struggling back into a swimming costume for another dip is too much to contemplate.
Waving bye bye to Whitstable
We have a better night’s sleep on our second night, having taken advantage of the provided sleep masks blocking out some of the early morning light seeping through the skylight. The hot tub is still bubbling away as we pack up. Of course, the sun decides to come out, just in time for our journey home.
Once again, we were unlucky with the weather. However, there’s a lot to love about this pastel-coloured and timeless seaside town. There’s a thriving arts scene, it’s a great place for foodies, and it’s a town full of small independent businesses. I look forwarding to revisiting and sampling more seafood in wonderful Whitstable.
Absolutely enjoyed reading this blog was very informative and useful also gave me a great insight into Bristol UK really must go thanks Emm
Excellent excellent read
As regulars to the area and fans of Michelle & Kent Cottage Holidays I enjoyed this. Would love to eat at Harbour St Tapas but are never organised enough to book. Check out Pearson’s Arms for food and drink when next in Whitstable.
Oh, Harbour Street Tapas was worth being organised for! Pearson Arms was on our (very) long list of places to eat had we not run out of time!
Thank you for reading and commenting Phil 👍🏻