Stormaggedon 2013

I should by be in norwich. Or if not in Norwich then in Norfolk. Or Suffolk. But I was aiming to be in Norwich by now so I could drop my case off at the hotel and queue up for the first session of the beer festival.

But I'm not.

Oh now, I'm at home still, with a case packed, tickets bought and no trains to catch. Or, no trains north of London to catch. I guess I could get to Shenfield, but that would be as far as it goes, and so I am going to try again tomorrow, catching the first train out of Dover to Stratford at just after six.



Until then I shall dream of beer and the pints I will miss tonight. Sadly.

You see, today the wind did blow, and trees did fall down. And the overhead wires that trains need to run. Or the electric ones, anyway. And these repairs are going to take most of the day, so the rail company says "don't travel". Or, can't travel.

I was holding some hope of going up today. Times of first trains was pushed back to nine, then ten and then midday. And then 'no trains until further notice'. So, here i am.



But, I have managed to fill the days with stuff. Although for the most part it has been e mailing Southeastern and then Greater Anglia. and then trying to call them. And then tweeting them. I did get a tweet back, and my ticket is valid tomorrow, so no need to panic. And the day of church chasing planned for the daylight hours will go ahead as planned.



But when the alarm went off this morning the plan was to catch the quarter to ten train; so I dropped Jools off at work, and headed down to the harbour to check out the waves. At the eastern end of the harbour, waves crashed against the beach depositing stones onto the promenade. I got soaked as a wave crashed behind me and the spray drifted over me.



I headed to Shakespeare Beach, parking near the Lord Walden hotel, banking on their being no traffic wardens about this time of day, and risking ten minutes on the beach snapping the waves. It was a good decision as the waves were huge, breaking against the Admiralty Pier and the spray going high over the old Dover Marine station. It was very impressive, and I was glad I was sheltering in the lea of a fisherman's hut thus staying mostly dry!



Next up was a walk from Aycliffe under the A2o and looking down on the beach far below. The waves looked a lot smaller,or course, but you could still see the waves crashing over the old station. I used the long lens to see the end of the pier being swamped by wave after wave. It looked like the end of the world.



And finally to St Martin's Battery for a general view of the harbour, and the spray arching over the station and the Lord Warden hotel. The light was perfect as a ray of sunlight found its way through the clouds and onto the angry sea below.