Canterbury and Packing for Home, England 2017 🇬🇧

Travelled: Watten in France to Canterbury in England.

Visited: Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral £12 pp

Stayed: Canterbury P&R Aire £6, all the usual services. N51.26170, E01.10001

Budget: 110 days @ €80 per day.

Watten aire provided a quiet evening and a ready jump off spot for the Chunnel station in Calais as usual. Only problem being our departure booking for 7.50am requires us to check-in by of 7.20. So we depart Watten at 6.30 am, the problem being its still pitch dark in northern France until 8 am. As we roll out of Watten into the morning traffic, I think this is the first time I have driven in the dark for 4 months. Bit un-nerving really, must be getting old, I suppose.

There is very little traffic and we roll into the terminal check-in and through to border control. There is a van and a station wagon in front of us. We can see about a dozen police and soldiers, so security is tight this morning. We even have a soldier look into the Hymer and ask for the bathroom door to be opened to check. Better safe than make the evening news…

So we roll off the train in Folkestone. We have gained an hour so it’s going to be a long day.

After the 40 minute drive from Folkestone to the Canterbury Park and Ride aire, we find a spot.

One of the things we least like about Britain apart from the ridiculously expensive food and drinks in the pubs and paying £1.25 for diesel, is that you have to pay to park virtually everywhere. If you need to stay for more than an hour or two, the P&R is the cheapest and most convenient option. You still have to pay but its normally the two hour rate for 24 hours and you get a free bus ride to town. Hence Canterbury P&R.

From the bus stop in Canterbury central we walk up St.George’s Street. So we wander aimlessly, looking for the tourist office. This tower was originally part of an old church.

Looking down a lane way off St.George’s, one of the cathedral’s towers can be seen in the mist.

The further we walk the more people can be seen wandering about. At some point St. George’s Street becomes St. Peter’s Street but where not sure.

A well disguised tourist office. From here we get a few hints and recommendations as you do.

So we wander over the Canterbury Cathedral, an icon of the Anglican Faith in England. A monastery was established here in 597 AD. About a third of the Cathedral is covered by scaffold and plastic, so this is what’s left.

The amazing lead-light windows of the Trinity Chapel. The Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered here in 1170 following his stoic defence of the Church against the will of Henry II.

Pam stands in front of one of the several stricking tapestries currently on display from the Australian artist Irene Barbaris. The Cathedral has strong links through the Anglican Church in Australian and there are several plaques and things associated with Australia.

We leave the Cathedral, following our map looking for the old city walls. A long section can apparently still be walked.

Eventually we find an access point and walk for about a kilometre around one side of Old Canterbury.

There are some nice parklands as we walk, but let’s face it, being a grey day it may not look its best.

Nice view of the Cathedral through the mist however…

Well our walk around Canterbury is just about done and we set of in search of a pub for lunch. Pam asks this guy for directions ?

Found this lovely little canal in the Blackfriars, but not exactly sure where. Must have been after lunch…

We bus back to the P&R without incident and spend a quiet evening after our early start in France and long walk around Canterbury.

In the morning we do the usual servicing of the Hymer and continue west to visit family for a few days, get some new tyres on the front of the Hymer and spend a few days cleaning and packing. Hence this is our last blog for 2017. Thanks for coming on the journey with us. We will tidy up the maps and budget links when back in Oz as well as sorting the subscription service which has driven me mad for 4 months.

Michae and Pam

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