Canterbury Tales

3rd May - Friday

A big chilly round the ears

 Reculver Abbey

 A fort playground

 Walking the wall - with a coat!!!

High Street, minus the trucks 

 Cruising down the river ...

DUCK!

 Medieval Hospital (ie hostel)

 Greyfriars Island

River Stour

 Canterbury Cathedral

 The Nave

The Quire

Yesterday evening, our hosts recommended a pub called Ethelbert for a meal as it was easy to find – “Just turn left at the thatched cottage in the middle of the road.” The thatched cottage was literally in the middle of the road! We had an excellent meal, followed by a very short walk along the cliff tops (the temperature really had something to do with this) to Reculver Abbey and the Roman ruins, with a view of the sun setting over the English Channel. When we returned to the pub and our car, we had to wait while about 25 old cars pulled into the car park, including a little three wheeler just like Gina drove in “Heartbeat.”


This morning we drove through narrow country lanes (some far too narrow for the caravan), past oast houses and quaint old houses on the war to the park and ride car park. After that, it was a short trip into Canterbury, with its narrow High Street and even narrower site streets. We discovered the High Street used to be the A2 highway from London until Dover, right up until the 1970s. Our first stop was at the cathedral, only to find out that the university was having a graduation ceremony and the cathedral was closed until 1.30. Changed our plans and look for the boat ride, which we had been told was on the bridge in the High Street. Find, but what bridge? It was all buildings! After much back and forwarding, we did locate a short expanse of rail hidden behind a truck and a man taking bookings. Having an hour to wait, we headed for the city wall and a walk past a lovely garden and more old buildings.

The boat ride was great, with only five passengers we could really move about a bit to look at the sights and the guide was great. We passed under a couple of very low bridges, saw Greyfriars Island and the Blackfriars Monastery, the ducking stool and a school of fish. Thank goodness the water quality of the River Stour has improved greatly since the sewer days of earlier eras.

Lunch was at Tiny Tim’s Tea Room – and I’m sure the butler from the recent episodes of “Upstairs, Downstairs” was the manager! Our Kentish cream tea arrived on a three tiered cake stand – very posh looking and very nice tasting. The clotted cream is very similar to King Island Cream, only with more fat, if possible. Then it was a visit to the Canterbury Tales feature for a great laugh. This was so well done with the audio and lights – and quite saucy!!! At last we were able to get into the cathedral, and what an enthralling sight. It was so light and airy, and very clean. We saw the site where Thomas Beckett was murdered and a candle now burns where his shrine was placed until Henry VIII destroyed it.

Getting back to the carpark wasn’t an issue – just getting our ticket validated was! The machine kept telling us it couldn’t read our ticket, and without a validated ticket the boom gate would stay down. We waited until the next bus arrived and asked the driver for help; he rang someone (evidently it is a fairly common problem with the ticket machines!) and eventually gave us another ticket to try. This time, the machine validated the ticket and said we didn’t owe any money, so we ended up saving £3.

When we returned to the B & B, we found our laundry all neatly folded up on our bed, and I had even gained a camisole. I decided my jeans would iron themselves in the suitcase, but someone else needed his shirts ironed, so he spent half an hour at the ironing board.

The weather today has been glorious - fine, sunny and warm.  We even dispensed with our coats, although someone did buy himself (with my credit card) a new one!