Canterbury Tales

Today we had a walk from the site into Canterbury. First we went into St Augustine’s Abbey ruins on the way down the hill as this is part of the Canterbury trail: the Cathedral, The Abbey and St Martin’s church. We had a walk around the abbey ruins before heading into Canterbury. We opted not to go into the cathedral grounds when we got there as entry is £7.50 each, we’re on a budget dontcha know! We managed to get a photo later as we sneaked in when no-one was on the gate! We carried on for a walk around the town walls and stopped on the way and had our lunch in the Dane John Gardens, Canterbury’s city park, where we walked up ‘The Mound’ and had a great view over the city and cathedral. We walked on along the walk and discovered Canterbury Castle, a small, free to enter site where the well preserved ruin is open to explore. On our way back we called in at St Martins Church, it is the oldest Christian church to be still in use in England and was built at a similar time to the cathedral. Past the church we followed the lane upwards to some gardens that looked like they belonged to someone’s house but were actually part of St Martins church college, had a sneaky wander round them then continued on up the hill past the disused windmill which is now a private house.

Next day we were heading to Dover and Deal, so we got ready and headed out, with the first stop being the White Cliffs. We parked in the National Trust car park which is directly above the Dover docklands and is a great place to watch all the ferries being loaded and unloaded and all the coming and going. At the visitor centre it detailed a two mile walk along the cliffs to the South Foreland Lighthouse, which was open on Mondays at this time of year, so we decided to go for that. It was a windy day and despite the sun being out it was colder than it looked so we kept moving with just a few stops to watch the ferries. Once we got to the Lighthouse the haze had cleared slightly and we got our first view of France. The lighthouse entry was by guided tour only so we agreed that Linda went first and Phil sat outside with the dogs. The lighthouse was built in 1843, and used to be lit by fire until 1858 led to it being the first lighthouse to have an electrically powered light. Linda’s tour took her into the lighthouse and up the 73 steps to the top where there were panoramic views of the English Channel and Kent Countryside.
The tour was 30 minutes, and by the time Linda returned Phil was frozen outside! We decided to head straight back for the car rather than Linda freezing too, so a quick trot back along the 2 mile coast path warmed us both up a bit before we had our lunch in the car watching all the action at the docks.
We then headed over to Dover Castle, which we could see from the road as we left the White Cliffs car park, but it wasn’t until we arrived at the castle that we got an idea of the true scale of the place. It’s massive! So much so that there is a free land train to get you around the site. It was around 2:00 when we drove in, and the lady on the gate said “You do know we close at 4:00?!”
There have been defences on this site for over 2000 years, and the castle has gone through many transformations since then, being put to wartime use on many occasions right up to the 2nd world war. We saw the roman Pharos (a type of very early lighthouse) which was built on the site 950 years before the first castle and still in tact, also the Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro is within the castle grounds and in great condition. We also walked round some of the lower defences and into some of the castles Medieval tunnels, as well as the more modern Secret Wartime Tunnels which were used as a medical facility in the 2nd world war. One of the highlights was a walk around the Keep or Great Tower, this was the ceremonial, defensive and administrative core of the castle and we got to walk through the kitchens, bedrooms throne room and even up onto the roof for some fantastic views. The whole place really blew us away and is really worth a visit, quite pricey at £14.30 per person but free to English Heritage members and you could easily spend a day here!
As it reached 4:00 we reluctantly left the castle and drove out to the small village of St Margaret’s at Cliffe where we drove down to the sea front to check out the pub that the random stranger that Phil met in Lymington recommended, As Linda suspected it turned out to be a let down, The Coastguard Inn was dead quiet and the landlady didn’t want to be bothered, so we made it a very quick pint before driving down the road to Deal where we had heard about a ‘Modernist’ pier that was the last one built in the UK and had been built in the 1950’s. This was also a letdown, with the pier looking like a tired motorway viaduct, which had nothing at the end but a splash. At least while we were in Deal we spotted a motor parts shop where the owner helped us identify which bit of coolant hose we needed for Tonks.

The next day we drove through Herne Bay to Margate. We parked on the sea front by a large piece of grassland with a Sunken Garden in the middle, we had a walk around the back of the garden and down to the beach where Princey had a good run around and chased a few rocks which we hurled into the sea, we then walked back up to the promenade and along that back to the sunken garden where we had our lunch. The garden is basically a huge dugout with a lawned area in its centre and terraced beds all around with footpaths and benches and because it is lower than ground level there was no wind and the place is a bit of a suntrap.
Then it was back to Tonks and on for a drive through Margate and Broadstairs until we got to Ramsgate. We parked on the street just above the international harbour before walking down the front past the very busy fishing/yacht harbour to the centre of town, there was a small beach where we continued our walk before heading back up to the road and getting an ice cream for the trip back to Tonks. Then it was a brief drive back to the van with a quick stop to have a look at a replica Viking longship which is now on public display just outside Ramsgate.

Last day in Canterbury so Phil went for a 40k bike ride to Perry’s Wood which he had found recommended on a website after some research the night before, the wood turned out to be an excellent playground with drops and jumps which took a while to find in the wood, and the return journey was through the lovely village of Chilham and then on through Canterbury. Linda meanwhile was went off on her bike to Canterbury and had a wander round the shops.

We have now moved to London’s Abbey Wood caravan club site. There is no dog walk on site so we took them into the Abbey woods across the road, through the woods and we popped out at the site of the ruined Lesnes Abbey with fantastic views over London and not-so-fantastic views of some tower blocks. We headed back to the site, which we noticed was surrounded by a large electrified fence! Al least it’s secure! Phil went out on his bike for an hour, going through the high rises and along the Thames path for a couple of miles before turning back and getting drenched as the heavens opened with a torrential downpour!