Mathew’s 30th Birthday today! Yey! First thing in the morning I got all his presents so he could open them all in bed with a nice cup of tea. After spending an hour opening presents (well, why not?!) we got up And had breakfast. We set out for Chatham Historic Dockyards for the day. When we got our tickets we were told a couple of things would be closed by a certain time so it was best to go see those things first so we wouldn’t miss out on them. We went to “SLIP 3” which was like a hangar with the largest things in - like bits of machinery, tractors and of course boats. Adjoined to this was an exhibit of lifeboats through the ages, and Mathew even had a go on one of them - it was made for kids of course, but anyone could have a go really. A boat the three oars was available to walk onto, and if you wanted, you could sit at the middle oar and have a go at rowing. Evidently it was very difficult as the elderly lady failed to do anything with it before Mathew had a go and managed to do a bit which impressed her! He did say it was very heavy though. Also one of the other lifeboats was accessible so we could go in and see all the way to the front right inside - I love these kinds of boats!
Outside, HMS Gannet was unfortunately unavailable to explore as it was being renovated, but we were able to go onto HMS Cavalier and the Submarine Ocelot later on. We had tickets to go to the Ropery and have a little tour there at midday, so we went there first. Out tour guide spoke as if she came out of the Victorian era, and I think she may have been from London but she put on the accent a little thicker when she was speaking to us in character as I remember it not being quite so prominent before the tour started! She took us through the entire rope making process which was actually more interesting than it sounds! When we went onto the second floor of the building, a couple of bits of equipment had been prepared and she said that we were going to make some rope.
She eyed us up and who did she choose first? Mathew of course!! He had to turn one wheel while another guy turned another wheel at the other end to twist the yarns taught, and there were two other “volunteers” who were also helping with the process. The tour guide stopped them before she put in this simple contraption which she put between the three yarns so it would make a nice piece of rope after turning a second time. They turned their wheels again and ended up with a piece of rope which she described as “Not good at all - it’s excellent!” And as she continued talking she cut the rope they had made into pieces of equal length and gave all the participants a piece of rope to keep before we walked into the main part of the ropery building which is still in use AND still uses much of the old equipment used 200 years ago! The building was SO long….we could hardly see the end of it!
We came out of the ropery and it was time to have our tour on the Submarine Ocelot. Now there was a sign outside the timed ticket kiosk for this which I had not actually take ANY notice of whatsoever, so those little circular hatches which we had to go through came as a complete surprise to me! I found it as one of those things which looks quite hard to do, yet when I came to do it, it seemed quite easy. A couple of the people on the tour decided not to go ahead with it because they had difficulty getting through the hatches, as one of the ladies said about her husband “He’s recently had two new knees and he can’t bent them very well”. So the rest of the tour group continued, and it was SO incredibly cramped and there would have been so many people in such a tiny space, and nobody would have seen daylight - they only had a red light to go on which indicated night time. I certainly wouldn’t have liked living in there for 12 weeks at a time with about 39 other people. Wouldn’t it get stuffy? And smelly too - each man was allowed one change of clothes and one pail of water a day to do what he wished with - except drink, as they could drink as much water as they wished, so I don’t know how often they washed or washed their clothes. Also, the log books of this submarine are top secret for 50 years. So it’s only got 31 more years to go until anyone can find out where that submarine was and what it was up to…!
So now it was time for lunch in the ONLY eatery……well….I know it was around 2pm, but there was barely anything left to eat. There was a shelf only half full of sandwiches, a handful of cakes, and no soup whatsoever, never mind the bread rolls which weren’t even present. The place was spacious enough of course, but I have to say that the eatery at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard is absolutely terrible, and people would be better off packing their own lunch and taking some tea in a flask. Really - this place needs some serious work done to it! Still, I took my chances with a gammon and tomato sandwich which I thought was probably better than the two cheese and spring onion sandwich, as experience with said two cheese and spring onion sandwiches in general often means that it’s actually two cheese, spring onion and a heapful of mayonnaise, and I absolutely cannot stand mayonnaise. Seriously - it’s devil’s work!!
Anyway, we consoled ourselves by splitting a little iced bun in half for dessert before continuing exploring the Dockyard. Our route wasn’t the most economical as we has been walking around various places due to having timed tickets. So we walked past the ropery to the Museum, then onto a new building in the area (the only place who asked to see our tickets before we continued……how would we have got into the Dockyard without our ticket? There is only one entrance, and they won’t let you in without having to buy a ticket first…so why did we have to show it here?? This one really puzzled me…!), it was all shiny and new, and we went into the main gallery which is what we were interested in. The main thing worth mentioning here is the Stanley Spencer paintings. I have to say I really like his style. It reminded me of cubism, but these paintings made sense! They were all fairly complicated and busy, and there was much going on in each painting. It seemed to start off with the raw materials at one end and the finished product at the other end. I just really liked the use of colour here, and how he could well have done these paintings in drab grey and brown colours, but no. These were bursting with colour, movement and life, without getting gaudy with the colour. I also loved the detail in the clothes that all the workers were wearing - tweed and thick woollen jumpers and tartan trousers. They were really nice paintings and I recommend going to see them. It’s a shame the shop didn’t have them in postcard format, otherwise I would have bought them.
That was the last stop we made before the gift shop which - like the “restaurant” was VERY disappointing. They could have been selling much more interesting things and I don’t know why they weren’t because there was a LOT of space which could have been used much better, if they’d had nice and not tacky merchandise to sell. Such a shame, but at least I was able to take some photos and Mathew came away with a piece of rope which he had created himself.
We got back to The Smithy for our cup of tea and slice of cake, before heading out to eat at one of the local pubs for dinner. Mathew’s choice was “The Compasses Inn” and our meals were with us by 8pm - I had slow cooked pork and Mathew had rabbit pie. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake for both of us which was absolutely DIVINE, of course if anybody asks me, Cheesecake is the king of dessert! On the way out, we paid for our meal at the bar, and I was asked the most oddest question ever. Obviously the barmaid thought that we were with a group of other people - although I don’t know why because we were seated right at the other end of the building…! While I keyed in my pin number, she asked us “So, have you been milking cows as well then?”
!!!!!
Milking cows? Huh? She explained that this is what the people who paid before us has told her about their day so for some reason she thought we had done the same. No! We all laughed and thought it very amusing, and I decided the incident was worth tweeting before we got back to The Smithy and relaxed for the evening before going to sleep ….. ZZZZzzzzzzz ……..
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