Ashford; Friday, 17 June, 2022

The previous couple of days had been hot and today was due to be the hottest day, and night, of the year so far – so I was looking forward to be staying in a hotel I knew from a previous visit had excellent air conditioning.

Of course, the major issue with really hot days in the UK is how quickly it makes things breakdown, and I arrived at the station in time to catch my train into London Bridge to find that it was cancelled due to a track failure. Thankfully the previous train to Victoria was running so late that it was only just due to arrive, so I caught that. My original route would have been on air-conditioned trains the whole way, this rerouting meant getting on the Victoria line which was about as pleasant as I was expecting, but it did leave me with an extra 10 minutes at St Pancras to grab some lunch.

The journey down to Ashford was smooth and I was soon in the hotel, air conditioning set to chill and finished working for the day.

After finishing work I headed out from the hotel and had a wander up through the centre of town to catch the bus out to the coast at Lydd and Greatstones.

I had a pleasant wander along the beach in a very pleasant cool breeze before it was time to head back to the hotel. Unfortunately, the bus out to Greatstones had formed the last direct bus of the day back to Ashford, so rather than a direct trip back I had to catch the bus up the coast to Folkstone and then hop on a train there back to Ashford.

Back in town I grabbed a quick dinner before heading back to my room where I found the aircon had worked its magic, it was so cold that I shivered as I entered the room, with every surface cold to the touch. It might have been the warmest night of the year, but I really needed to snuggle down into the duvet to avoid being too cold!

Weather

No Data Sunny
AM PM
Very Hot (30-40C, 86-104F)
32ºC/90ºF