London 2026: Part 3--Rochester Day; a Pub Crawl

This is Page 3 of a series. 

From my perspective as a train driver in Train Sim World, Rochester looked like an inviting place to visit.  Each time I pulled into the station I could see both the cathedral and the castle on the nearby skyline.  It looked to be an easy walk to both from the station.  So off we went to Rochester for the day.  To avoid central London we took the back way, using two trains and a tram to get there and get home.  The Croydon tram stops in front on our hotel, and with our 6-zone Travel Cards in hand we hopped on the tram to Beckenham Junction, the final stop on one of the three lines.  From here we caught a train to South Bromley, and finally our train to Rochester, which is not very far from outer London.

View of Rochester from Train Sim World.  The cathedral and castle are prominent on the skyline.

 

Sunset view from Rochester Station, Train Sim World. 

 

Sometimes I pass through Rochester in the middle of the night in Train Sim World, and can't resist stopping for a moment. 

 

It was an extremely windy day.  We were pretty tired from our hike yesterday and all that hill climbing, so we hoped today would be a bit less strenuous.  We hadn't counted on the wind, or all those stairs at the castle.  We began our adventure at the cathedral, about a five minute walk from the station.  The castle lies just across the street from the cathedral.  It is an unusual cathedral and one of the oldest in England.  It was founded in the 600s (!) and began as a small diocese church.  It was added to again and again, and today one is impressed by the many different styles and stones used.  Everywhere we went on our journey there were school groups, and today was no exception.  We were never bothered by them, and most kids were very well behaved.  It made me curious to imagine how large a cathedral (or castle) must appear to someone whose height is between 3 and 4 feet.

 

Deb's photo of Rochester Cathedral taken from atop the nearby castle.  It shows the Romanesque front entrance, with a gothic style further in.  The station is just left and behind the building with turquoise roof accents. 

 

Entrance to Rochester Cathedral.

 

The mighty Wurlitzer, or something even mightier.

 

We were given a plastic plan to take around with us.

 

The main window on a very sunny day.

From the entrance looking through the quire towards the distant main altar.  The organ sits above the row of statues.

 

A closer view through the quire.

  

Closer still, to the main altar.

 

Romanesque arches on the side.

 

Tall gothic arches, looking forward from a side aisle. 

 

More examples of the fine stained glass, seen on a very bright day. 

 

Front entrance towers seen from the courtyard.

 

This photo shows some of the different stone used in construction through the ages.

 

Ruins of the abbey, destroyed in the Reformation period.

 

Half of a 12th fresco survived the destruction of the Reformation, only because this half was hidden behind heavy furniture at the time.

 

The cathedral is certainly worth a visit, and we took our time exploring its many nooks and vast spaces.  There is a crypt with library and some displays of the manuscripts held by the church, and of course the ubiquitous cafe and a gift shop.  I bought a pencil!  Nearly every park and major point of interest in England has a cafe, not to mention a majority of the train stations.  

 

Directly across a street from the front door of the cathedral is the castle.  The Keep has been restored and is the main feature of a visit here.  It costs visitors a lot of money to climb a lot of stairs.  Dangerous stairs.  And it was extremely windy.  There were kids in first and second grade up here.  They looked terrified, and would likely have nightmares for the rest of their lives.  They should only bring the bad kids here and leave the nice ones at home.  The many spiral staircases that lead to the top battlement are original.  The steps are of stone, are slippery and each one is of a different height.  No two steps are the same.  It probably didn't help the little students who looked at us and saw our own terror as well.  It was hard to get out of the wind.  The Keep is roofless now and as one climbs to different levels the perspective changes.  Signage is good and this is a pretty fun experience.  Views from the top are outstanding, but the wind kept our visit aloft quite short.  I secured another pencil at the gift shop!  Two in one day!

 

A view of the castle from in front of the cathedral.  Visitors have the opportunity to climb to the top of the Keep.  Check out that blowing flag.

 

Cross section of the Keep.  The main staircase now leads into the gift shop and entrance.  Most rooms can be explored as one climbs.  Even the cesspit can be visited (who cleaned that out?)  Much of it is still a ruin, but enough parts remain to make a visit quite interesting and fun.

 

Outside the Keep.

 

Inside the Keep.

 

Overlooking the Great Hall, the great one himself would pontificate from here.
 

  Climbing a bit higher.

 

The pedestrian, road and railway bridge crosses the Medway River and joins Rochester and Strood.

  

Looking up the Medway River from the battlement. 

 

We walked the narrow High Street, hoping to connect later on with a very fine pub.  Alas, The Man of Kent was closed Monday and Tuesday, and wouldn't open till 4 pm next day.  Lousy hours for an English pub.  We came across The Golden Lion, a Wetherspoon pub.  This chain takes as lot of flack from pub snobs, but we love most of their pubs.  The one nearest our hotel in East Croydon is The George, and has 17 real ales on hand pull, a record for us and perhaps London.  They have plenty of vegan menu options, and their prices are great.  Most pubs charge from L6.5 to L8 for a pint of ale; The George charges L2.2.  Can't beat those prices or their selection.  Their pub in Rochester had 10 ales on hand pull today.  We shared half pints of Wantsum Brewery's Imperium Best Bitter, and Mad Cat Brewery's Emotional Blackmail Ruby Rye.  We also shared a vegan pizza and finished up with coffee.  Most cafes charge around L3.5 for an espresso; Wethies charges L1.33 and gives unlimited refills.  There are also open at 8 am for breakfast and early tiplers.

 

We returned early to the station and headed up to the platform, disappointed not to have spent the afternoon at the Man of Kent.  However, on the way home I had an idea for a pub crawl.  We had travel cards so we could hop on and off the train and explore the area around outer London stations for pubs.  With Deb searching for pubs near stations with her phone (she bought an extremely inexpensive sim card in London from Lyca Mobile that came with everything, including free calls back to Canada so I was able to surprise my Mom one day with a call home), we managed to hit four decent pubs before heading home on the tram.  At Birkbeck Station we always saw a pub as we passed by, so we finally got off here and went and shared a half of cider.  The pub had only draft beer so we moved on.

 

The Great Southern Pub lies just outside Gipsy Hill station.  We shared half pints of St. Austell Tribute, beautifully kept, and another outstanding ale from Tiny Rebel called Cwtch Welsh Red Ale (gotta love those vowel-less Welsh words).  A neat feature of this pub was the live train time schedule on a TV.  We were eventually able to head out five minutes before our train arrived and move along.  

 

The Great North Wood pub lies close to West Norwood Station, and we stopped off for Bexley Brewery's Own Amber.  Most of these English ales come in between 3.7% alcohol and 4.4%, with the high end sometimes reaching 5%.  So one can probably do this train station thing all day.   And night.  

 

Our final stop was the Tulse Hotel, a short walk from Tulse Hill Station.  We shared a half pint of Juba Peach Session on draft, completing our first of three pub crawls for this 2026 London visit.  From the station it was a quick ride to East Croydon and a four minute walk back to our hotel.  For the first few nights, however, we ate at the Croydon Boxpark, a loud and obnoxious place for drinking bad lagers, hearing very loud music and watching sports on gigantic screens.  There are about 20 great takeaway places to eat, however, many of them offering terrific vegan food.  We tried a Himalyan place once and a Japanese noodle bar twice.  When the music was too loud we took our food back to the hotel to eat.  Tomorrow we would be back on the hiking paths.

 

We tend to travel during the waxing moon, since I can't do much astronomical observing then.  Full moon was also May Day, but we avoided the hubbub.  It would also be a long weekend in England and the weather was fine.  Many Londoners probably couldn't believe their good luck.

 

to be continued...