He spends a lot of time on trains – not the old-fashioned steam ones – but the new modern type.
Keith’s holidays for the last few years have been a two-week Rail Rover and a first class trip around Britain only switching to standard class when he has to.
During the rest of the time, he plans his trips on his computer in detail and once a week he and I (I just tags along for the company, ride and meal) take a train journey within the Freedom Pass Zone, have a meal in a nearby pub at the destination and come back, sometimes by a different route.
There isn't a pub near Barking Riverside so this time it was a trip to Barking. Quite complicated. We met up on the Windrush line and went to Shadwell. Here, we changed to the DLR for one stop to Limehouse and then another change for two more stops to Barking
But it doesn’t always work out despite Keith’s meticulous planning.
Take Barking, for instance! In spite of Keith phoning the pub the day before and being assured there was food available on the day, the kitchen of the Spotted Dog was closed until 2pm.
Didn’t matter as there were plenty of other restaurants.
There were at least three in the same block. As an aside there were two solicitors’ offices side by side on the other side of the road. Obviously, a lot of litigation goes on in Barking!
At 12.30pm the three first cafes were open but empty. The fourth, a Chinese called China Friend was also empty but the menu looked inviting (and we hadn’t had a Chinese on the tour) so in we went.
The set menu for two was £34 but we have paid more in some pubs so we opted for this.
The starter was: four spare ribs; four spring rolls, four pieces of prawn toast and a generous portion of seaweed.
The main dishes were: rice with chicken; sweet and sour chicken and beef with mixed vegetables.
And there was plenty of it.
Another plus was that one of the waitresses also left another dish which looked like a single lunchtime meal for one – rice, noodles. prawns, beef – and we tucked in to this too before we realised that this was for another diner.
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| It was all washed down with a couple of bottles of Tsingtao. |
Coming back we went to Limehouse and then on the DLR to Lewisham.
If anyone would like to join us on our trips then ask one of us and we will try to hook up.
Keith did the photographs and Paul did the words.
