Canterbury 2018

Canterbury.  Why not London?

Well, originally, we were planning on staying in London.  We'd been there several years ago and wanted to go back.  There were still so many things to see and do.  The main one was Westminster Cathedral.  Turns out, it was going to have highly limited hours while we'd be there.  Hmmm.  And staying in London is really expensive.  And doing escorted day tours out of London is expensive and time consuming.

So, rather than staying in London and doing "hub and spoke" tourism on our own, we decided to split the time between Canterbury and Windsor.  It would be cheaper and easier.

A good decision.

We rolled our bags from Canterbury West to our lodging, a few blocks away, passing right through a city gate.

Our ride departing Canterbury West Station

The hotel was an old building that had been renovated into a boutique hotel.  Not many rooms, in fact many had names rather than numbers.  Our room name was "Stour" after the river through the town.

High Street in the old part of Canterbury

Our hotel

Stour River branch through town

Theater in town.  Big crowd in town attending theater when we arrived. Hard to find a place to eat!

We have a day and a half to spend in Canterbury before heading on to Windsor.  Want to see the Cathedral and want to go to Dover and see the cliffs and castle.   Easy, take the train to Dover and walk up to the cliffs and castle.  Not easy.  A couple miles straight up hill.  Also, train is being "bustituted" because of trackwork.  Okay, then, rent a car!  Easy.  Not easy.  Every major place closed on Sunday.  Check Ashford - a major stop on the rail line to the Channel Tunnel, a few stops down the line from Canterbury.  All the major brands are there.  All closed on Sunday.  But, wait! There's a place near Ashford with a vehicle!  Oh, it's a lumber yard that rents vans by the hour for taking home your sheetrock.  Never mind.  One last chance.  A small, family owned chain in Canterbury is open for a couple hours on Sunday morning.  I call.  They have cars!  We are set.  Thanks, Kendall!

Spiffy Golf!

Off to Dover!

Dover.  The port is still super busy with ferries despite the channel tunnel.

Dover cliff were always a defensive position for England.  This, from WWII

The cliffs are white!

There are tunnels in the cliff.  First used for troop barracks 200 years ago, were used for planning the Dunkirk evacuation, "Operation Dynamo".  Great tunnel tour explains it all.  Also used for Army forward hospital.

The castle at Dover.  This spot has been fortified for a long, long time.

Old Roman lighthouse.

Chapel.  Still active.

Now, THAT'S a door lock!

i

Gate

 The castle's keep was restored and furnished as it would have been in medieval times.

It's good to be the Queen (and Prince consort)

After the tunnels and castle, we headed over to the cliffs.  There were some trails you could take to walk along the edge. 

The cliffs are made of chalk - sort of really pure limestone - and have inclusions of flint which naturally forms in chalk and limestone.  Good to know if you ever need to make stone tools for a dystopian future...

flint

You could see across to France this day.  They have white cliffs, too.

After the cliffs, we drove up the coast to Deal.  This is the Deal Castle.

Then on to Botany Bay.  There are HUGE wind farms offshore.  This is just a small part.

Botany Bay

Beach at Botany Bay

Town streets along the coast.

Back to Canterbury for dinner.

Monday morning.  Check out. Store bags.  Head to Cathedral.  Learn about the Cathedral history here.

The little shields are like "buy a brick" in medieval times

The priory

A vestige form the original building with Roman architecture

A story in paint rather than glass

Original Medieval paint on walls.  Stonework was colorfully painted, but most of that has been lost to the ages.  This area had been walled off as storage, so the paint held up.

Second half 20th century glass - keyhole in lock is shaped like swaztika. The door the lock  held is busted open.

Gate to cathedral

Canterbury streets

Train to Waterloo.  Uses old right of way to London, so we can have an easy schlep to Waterloo for Windsor train.
...rather than tote luggage on the Underground or taxi.

Changing trains in Waterloo

Windsor!

Tomorrow, Windsor Castle.