Day Trips from London

luka

Well-known member
theyre fairly interchangeable and on a daytrip the surrounding countryside is not really relevant. both have good museums though, good gardens and good buildings that are really old. oxford is marred by all those mean little houses around it. both are marred by young succesful people with rosy cheeks and a future of huge economic reward ahead of them. oxford has better pubs i think, from what i can remember. but cambridge is certainly prettier and i prefer the atmosphere.
 

luka

Well-known member
more importantly cambridge=jh prynne
oxford=craig raine

a big divide in the tiny and privelged world of modern english poetry
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Rye in East Sussex is very picturesque, though it's right on the coast so I dunno how close it is to the Weald. Then again, we're talking about England here, so how far can it be?

Rye's on the edge of the Weald, seem to remember going there as a kid.

I may end up going to Ashdown Forest (not actually a forest, more heathland), is the highest part of the Weald and it was the inspiration for Winnie the Pooh. Largest area of open public access land in SE England too, apparently.
 

luka

Well-known member
I need a walk too. It needs to be accessible without a car and a needs to be out the city so I can take big lungfulls of good prana. 10 miles or so. Any ideas? South downs? Chilterns? Something coastal?
 

luka

Well-known member
Actually I'll just follow hywell on this occasion I think. Looks great. I'll stalk him. Answer the question anyway though.
 

luka

Well-known member
couldnt be fucked working out the transport arrangements. went tring instead. i will defeintly 100% but i was very scatty that week and couldnt concentrate on following instructions
 

Leo

Well-known member
so i've (dis)regarded many of the suggestions here and settled on: three days in the midlands (a village outside northampton) with the wife's family, two days in brighton visiting friends, one day in margate, two days in a fisherman's hut in whitstable, and finishing up with 3.5 days in london. not that extended forecasts count for much, but the margate/whitstable/london days are looking mild and only 10% chance of rain.

bonus: leaving tonight, which means we're there to watch election day unfold.

thanks for all the suggestions. if you spot a panicked yank driving on the wrong side of the road, please wave hello.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
You'll have a grand time. When you're in Whitstable, Canterbury and Chilham (the quintessential picturesque English village) are both worth a visit if you have a few spare hours.

Don't engage anyone in Kent in political conversation, though. Especially not now.
 

Leo

Well-known member
You'll have a grand time. When you're in Whitstable, Canterbury and Chilham (the quintessential picturesque English village) are both worth a visit if you have a few spare hours.

Don't engage anyone in Kent in political conversation, though. Especially not now.

thanks, baboon...we planned on spending a half-day in Canterbury (it's where we're dropping the car rental and taking the train to london), will try to check out chilham as well.
 

Leo

Well-known member
12 days and only one with rain, and hot as hell for half of it. was i actually in england?

had good time, thanks for all the suggestions. brighton and margate were fun, whitstable was a relaxing two days of nothing to do but eat oysters and enjoy seaside sunsets out back of the old neptune pub (highly recommended). best laff: friends in herne hill took us to a converted former car park in peckham that now includes a movie theater and rooftop beer garden with sculptures. it was a blazing 30/90-degree day on sunday afternoon and the car park roof, without a spec of shade, is packed with hipsters drinking and presumably getting sunstroke. you guys are fucking weird. luv ya!

;)
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
it was a blazing 30/90-degree day on sunday afternoon and the car park roof, without a spec of shade, is packed with hipsters drinking and presumably getting sunstroke. you guys are fucking weird. luv ya!

;)

Huh, I thought it common knowledge that only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

(glad you had a great time!)
 

Leo

Well-known member
your friend definitely showed you London hipsterdom in all its glory - good tourguiding!

funny, it's an identikit culture at this point. if i were blindfolded and dropped onto that car park roof, i wouldn't know if i was in williamsburg/bushwick brooklyn or portland or seattle or austin or asheville or (presumably) berlin or lisbon...
 

luka

Well-known member
Internet erased geography as well as genre, for a certain class of person. Boring innit
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
funny, it's an identikit culture at this point. if i were blindfolded and dropped onto that car park roof, i wouldn't know if i was in williamsburg/bushwick brooklyn or portland or seattle or austin or asheville or (presumably) berlin or lisbon...

Ha, reminds me of the (admittedly delicious) locally brewed ultra-hoppy IPA I enjoyed in Jordan a year and a half ago, which tasted just like the beer they had on tap in the country club I stayed in while on a work trip to San Diego four years ago, which in turn is identical to the beers you started seeing in trendy bars and off licences in London and Bristol and Edinburgh over the last half-decade, and since then in big supermarkets all over the country, and presumably the world...what was once a subculture based on individuality has become a superculture notable for its homogeneity. And yeah, it is a bit boring.
 
Top