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!

From 1066 Battles to Squeeze Gut Alley

After arriving on our new site we headed into Bexhill on Sea, we had a lovely walk along the busy beach and watched the local yacht club have races on the sea while having a picnic, then walked a little way back on the promenade and had ice creams from a Mr Whippy! Back at the van, we went for a walk from the site into the Highwoods woodland park. This is a privately owned wood that’s open to walkers and horses, there are 3 walks through the woods and a horsey trail, it was quite busy as it was Sunday and a lovely sunny day , we saw some mad horses who were charging around their field with spring fever and some people who were out bird watching.

The next day we had decided to go to the battle of Hastings site and Battle Abbey after picking up a leaflet. It is a very grand entrance to the site, and we were welcomed by an English Heritage man who gave us a German guide leaflet by mistake due to a flock of German students who had gone in before us! We waited until they had gone on ahead before continuing our walk around the battlefield site while listning to our free audio tours. It was a beautiful sunny day and we really enjoyed a very slow walk around the site before going into the walled garden where we sat on the grass to eat our picnic. On to the abbey ruins where we saw Harold’s Stone, the place where the abbey alter was and where king Harold fell in 1066. After a walk around the on-site museum we went back into the village for a pint outside The Abbey pub before heading across the road for an ice cream!

Next was a trip to Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters. We drove through Eastbourne and headed up past Beachy Head and parked in the National Trust car park at the East side of the Seven sisters. From there we took the footpath that runs along the top of the cliffs which has a lot of steep ups and downs as the sisters roll away in front of you. At the tops of all the peaks we had fantastic views of the white cliffs on both sides and on a few occasions we both risked a look over the edge of the sheer drop to the sea below! In some places you could see where the top of the land had slightly separated ready for the next landslip into the sea. It was quite quiet on the Seven Sisters compared to the number of people we had seen on Beachy Head on the way through but we did see a few walkers to say hello to. It was a beautiful clear sunny day, so we had our picnic on a bench on the 3rd sister, with a great view of Beachy Head and out to sea, after which we carried on to the end of the Sisters before turning and heading back. After a quick stop at the car we headed up to the disused Belle Tout lighthouse (which is now replaced by the one on Beachy Head), on the way back down the hill was a fantastic view of the white cliffs, but we could also see a wall of white mist out to sea which was rolling in towards us.

Because we were so high up we were looking down on it, and we sat on a bench as it hit the land and watched it rush in up the cliffs and over our heads until we were engulfed in mist and no longer had a view! We then headed back to the car, we didn’t stop at Beachy Head because of the cloud, but as we came around the headland we could look down on Eastbourne and see the mist out to sea about to engulf the town in a white blanket.

A little bit cloudier today, but not raining so we decided to head to Rye, as recommended by Linda’s dad. After driving past Camber Castle (you can only access it on foot and it was closed at the time) we headed for Rye Harbour where we had a little look around the tiny harbour village and the nature reserve, there is a Martello tower by the car park, a simple, round defensive tower made of solid masonry which could withstand cannon fire. Between 1804 and 1812 103 Martello towers were built along the coast of England to guard against possible invasion by France and we have seen a number of them on our travels but never this close.
Rye is a charming medieval town with lots of narrow cobbled streets and period buildings. We had a walk through the town and to the Ypres tower (Named after John de Ypres, its owner) which was built in order to defend the town from the French in 1249, unfortunately it wasn’t open when we visited but we did have a little walk around it and into the gun garden which surrounds it, this is where the huge cannons sit and look out to sea in defense of the town, and where we now had a view of the wind turbines on the Romney levels and Rye Harbour. We then headed out to Camber Sands, a massive, flat sandy beach where the dogs had a good run around and we watched a couple of kite boarders having fun. Recently we had seen an article in the caravan club mag about Dungeness, with its lighthouse and pebble beach. It turned out to be quite an eerie place, with little shacks (houses) dotted about, some of them made out of old railway carriages and most made out of wood. The new lighthouse was built in 1961, and had to be built to replace the old black lighthouse, built in 1901 because the new nuclear power station blocked the lighthouse from boats on the western side! The old lighthouse is still there and is now a tourist attraction.


We have now moved to a site in Canterbury and on the day after arrival Phil went biking on a 37k ride that took him through Canterbury centre and out through the university to Thornden Wood where he had a bit of a play on the singletrack before heading back. Meanwhile Linda took the dogs for a 4 mile walk over the golf course (having to ask the golfers where she was!) and back through fields on some indistinct footpaths. Later we took the laptop to Wetherspoons where we had a couple of drinks while using their painfully slow broadband.

We have also been to Whitstable since arriving here. The town is famed for its oysters, and is know locally as ‘the pearl of Kent’. We had a walk around the harbour where the fishing, and particularly oyster trade is in evidence with lots of fresh fish on sale. While we were there a load of lambretta’s rolled into the harbour and parked on the front, their riders trying very hard to look cool!
We walked through the lovely town centre stopping at the butchers and greengrocers, as well as a hardware shop. The town had a lot of small alleyways which the fishermen used to use to reach the beach, we had a walk down “Squeeze Gut Alley” famed for being so narrow some people have to go through sideways! Luckily neither of us did!

Arundel and Bognor

Before we Left Lymington we headed off for a walk to Hurst Castle. we parked at the end of Hurst Spit and walked along the spit (long pebble beach) to the castle, and it was sooooo cold and windy. We got to the castle (English Heritage) at about 3.15pm and they shut at 4.30pm so just enough time for a trot round. It was very interesting with the original centre of the castle/fort dating back to Henry VIII and because it was so quiet we were able to take the dogs on the walls etc when we probably shouldn’t have!

The next day was a travelling day to our next site at Barnham, a small flat field on a farm with a barrier to open before you can get a caravan in or out, once pitched we popped to Bognor Regis – we didn’t stay long as it didn’t really appeal to us. The front and promenade were nice enough, pebble beach again which was ok , had a walk along the pier which is privately owned and a bit tatty, then walked back to the car through the town centre which is not that nice!

Phil went out early the next day on his bike, he went into the South Downs and did around 36k riding in forests, across chalk fields and with some fantastic views. When he got back we set out for Arundel. This is a very impressive place, it is a small town on a hill with two incredibly imposing landmarks; a cathedral and a huge castle. We parked on street and had a walk through the very pretty town and down to the river Arun where you get to look up at the front of the castle, and get a true sense of its scale. We walked along the river and out of the town to the entrance to Arundel Park, a country park owned by the castle but open to the public. A sign on the gate said no cycles, horses, cars, motorbikes, lorries, dogs or anything but bipeds were allowed! Linda popped into the nearby café and asked the lad in there if the sign was true and he said we were fine to go in with the dogs on a lead, but stick to the rights of way. So off we trotted past the man made duck lake and up into the very pretty park. When we got to the top we came across a folly tower with a gallop running alongside it. No sign of any horses so we crossed and headed around and back towards the town, coming across a mobile racehorse start gate for 3 horses. Back in the town we decided to stop for a pint in The St Mary’s Gate Inn as they allowed dogs, the barman told us that the castle used to have the largest group of racehorses in the UK, and still has around 120 on site now! Out of the pub and we were stood at the foot of the huge cathedral, we had a walk through its grounds before heading back into town where we popped to the butchers to get some rations.

We had spotted earlier in the week that Chichester had a market on today, so we decided that this would be the day for us to visit. Just as we had parked and were getting out we heard a loud bang and Linda saw a car drive straight over a give way and smash into the side of another! We went over to check everyone was ok and saw that by the time we had walked over they were all ok and already arguing! So on we went for a wander around Chichester city centre, lovely place with lots of old buildings and a lovely market square, it reminded us of Chester. The cathedral was looking great as it had been recently cleaned and was showing up really well in the bright sunshine. We both went inside the cathedral and had a look at the fantastic stained glass and huge tapestries before heading out and having a little bit more of a walk around the town walls.
We then drove up to Goodwood country park before heading along a bridleway passed the Goodwood racecourse to a small village called Charlton, on the way there Prince spotted a rabbit in the track and gave chase, to our surprise, and unusually for his lumbering pace, he caught it. We ran after him and gave him a big telling off before realising it had Mixi, luckily Prince hadn’t broken the skin, and the rabbit wandered off even more dazed and confused, poor thing.

Next was a visit to Portsmouth. On the way we saw a couple of tanks driving down the road. The soldiers sticking their heads out the top saw our look of glee and gave us a wave as they passed, then as we joined the dual carriageway and they left we passed them and got another wave! We drove into the centre of Portsmouth and parked in a multi storey, so ambled through the shops to the huge spinnaker tower, here we took some photos and carried on round with the dogs to the historic dockyard but we were told the dogs weren’t allowed in. Boo. We sat on the front of the quay and ate our butties with a view of HMS Warrior, built in 1860 and in its day at the cutting edge of naval warfare as it was the worlds first iron clad ship. After lunch we popped into the TIC and bought some Spinnaker Tower tickets. The view from the tower was great, a panoramic view of Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight, and out to Lymington where we had just stayed. The tower also had a section of glass floor which Linda bravely stepped onto first, a straight down view of the concrete over 100ft below! After we left the tower we headed for the historic docklands again. This time without dogs (they were in the car) we were able to wander through and see HMS Victory the world famous warship which played a huge part in establishing Britain’s maritime supremacy and was the scene of the death of Admiral Nelson. The ship is now kept in a dry dock and you are able to walk around it, it is quite a sight and very thought provoking. We stopped at a pub, The Ship Anson, for a drink and then headed back to the car and drove out of the centre to Southsea Castle. On the way there we saw the hovercraft which goes to the Isle of Wight parked up next to the promenade, so hopped out to take a look. We only had to wait a few minutes and it blew up its skirts, turned round on the beach and set off for Ryde, it was amazing to see and very noisy! Then we continued to the castle, unfortunately it was closed, but we had a great view of it from the outside as you are able to walk all the way around, we had a walk along the seafront and under the South Pier (an amusement arcade) before heading back to Tonks and out of Portsmouth.

We have now moved to Kloofs caravan park in Bexhill on Sea, luckily with no more mishaps on the way!

New Forest and Wight

Phil had a good chat with Julian from the motorhome opposite before Carol and Linda came out and we were all chatting in the sunshine hoping we might meet up again sometime!
We hitched up the van and started our short journey to the CL in Lymington, spotting some tanks driving through the street on the way! Once on the A31 and well into the National Forest we noticed Tonks’ power was reducing and his temperature started to rise, we managed to limp to a layby where we lifted the bonnet to see steam and water pissing out! Oh no! We phoned the rescue company and they said someone would be along within an hour. Luckily the layby had a footpath into the New Forest so we took the dogs for a nice stroll while we were waiting, spotting some mountain bikers and a horse out on the bridleways. Back at Tonks, we had a call from our saviour who had spotted us, but was on the wrong side of the dual carriageway! He was soon with us, but he was in a car transporter wagon, so we instantly thought he wasn’t going to even attempt a repair. He looked under the bonnet and soon spotted that it was just a split hose, so he cut the split off and rejoined it so that we could limp on with the little bit of water we had. We made it to the site and had a lovely welcome from the owner, Stewart who settled us on our pitch.

We popped into Lymongton for a look around and, a lovely looking town with lots of posh shops and a lovely old harbour. We stopped in a pub for some grub and a pint before heading back and calling it a night.

Next day we went and did one of the Country Walking routes in the north of the New Forest, starting at the small hamlet of Fritham and heading into the unpopulated forest for a 5.5mile lo

op.

Due to a slight navigational hiccup we ended up doing 6.2miles! The walk was great, with the sun shining on us all day! We saw lots of New Forest ponies and quite a few groups of deer, and very few people! We had our picnic perched on a fallen tree next to a nice little stream. Once we got back to Tonks we decided to have a pint in the little pub in Fritham, the farmer was trying to round up one of his wild ponies, which was causing a bit of a stir and there were a few spectators sat in their cars, I opened the pub door to find a group of ladies having a brew who told me they were shut! Back out on the road we found that the pony had managed avoid capture and was trotting off down the lane, so we headed in the same direction in Tonks only to have to pull over as it was running towards us again being closely followed by a pickup and a forestry wagon! We carried on home with a stop at our local country shop where we got a toolbox for Phil, but when we came back to Tonks and drove him off Linda found that the power steering wasn’t working and she could hardly turn the wheel. As we were only a few yards from home we limped back to the campsite and then had a look under the bonnet. Tonk’s had managed to shear off his power steering pump pulley..

The next day we rang a local garage and they said we would be ok to drive Tonks the 2 miles to them. Got there ok and they took our number and said they would try and sort it as soon as possible for us. We biked back from the garage with a quick detour to have a look at Sway Tower, The folly of an eccentric lawyer, and the tallest non reinforced concrete structure in the world. It turned out to be privately owned, and we think part of someone’s house. We decided our best options for the day was for Phil to go on his bike and Linda to go for a walk from the site. Phil went on a ride in the forest which he had downloaded from the internet, you are only allowed to ride on designated forest tracks in the forest, and it is very flat, so its not the sort of place you can get an adrenaline fix! 55k in 3hrs later Phil was back at the van. Meanwhile Linda went for a walk which she had plotted on the gps, starting off on lanes, but then heading into the forest, via some deep mud, and across a deep ford where she got her feet very wet! The walk was fantastic with lovely views over empty heathland and a picnic spot in the sun! Over 8 miles later and with tired legs she got back to have a brew with Phil outside the front of the van in the sun.

Today was a glorious sunny day, not a cloud in sight, so after we got up we decided we would walk into Lymington with our lunch and have a bit more of a look around. We left at around 11:30 after having given the garage a call, who said they had ordered the part and were awaiting delivery. On the way we met a farm dog, she was a young Labrador who proudly came up to us with a dead squirrel in her mouth, which she showed off to Prince and Smudge! Yuk! Once we got into Lymington we spotted a sign that pointed us in the direction of the park, it turned out to be a large patch of grass with some benches scattered around, a perfect spot for lunch. We then headed back to town and down to the harbour front where we got a pint from the Ship Inn and sat at the front watching the fishermen doing their stuff (which wasn’t very much!). We were then headed back into town when Phil got a call from the garage to say the car was ready (yippee) and it would cost £260 (boo) we had just missed the bus, so would have to wait an hour for the next one so we had a look around and found a butchers where we got some burgers and sausage for a barbeque. The bus dropped us at the site and we settled the dogs in and jumped on our bikes and pedalled the 2.5 miles to the garage. All settled up and bikes strapped on we were motoring on again! A quick stop at the garage in Hordle and we were back at the van where Phil set up the barbeque and Linda washed Tonk’s off. Burgers and sausages for tea, yum!

Woke up early the next day, very excited as we were going over to the Isle of Wight for the day! We phoned the number for enquiries only to be told you had to book the tickets 2hrs in advance, and because of sailing times we would have to wait 3 hrs! Excitement gone we decided to use the spare time to book our next site. We found one by Bognor Regis, so booked ourselves on for 5 nights..
We then headed off to the Isle of Wight, getting to the ferry half an hour early to pick up our tickets and then off we went. The crossing took about 30mins and we left the dogs in the car, while we had a wander round the ferry and had a tea in the lounge (the sun deck was a bit cold in the wind!) We then drove to the Needles on the west of the island where we had a walk up to Tennyson’s monument (Tennyson was a poet laureate, born in 1809) which had a fantastic view of the huge white cliffs running towards the needles, so we walked along the tops of these towards the Needles. When we got there we headed for the Old Battery where the defences and cannons were sited in the war, but it was closed for winter! So we went round to the viewpoint instead before heading back to the car. We then drove round to Sandown with a quick stop at Hanover Point to have a look at the fantastic view. We stopped in a car park at the end of the beach, but the tide was in so there wasn’t much beach and there was a charge for parking so we carried on to Ryde where we managed to get the dogs on the beach to let off a little steam (but not for too long as the wind was bitter!). We drove through Ryde and spotted the pier which you could take your car down to the car park at the bottom! Tonk’s first pier wasn’t very exciting though, with nothing there but a ferry and train station. We did have a great view of Portsmouth though, with the giant Spinnaker Tower lit up by the sun. We carried on to Cowes, arriving in East Cowes and taking the chain ferry over to Cowes itself (a bit of a rickety ferry compared to the King Harry!). Cowes was very nice, even though it was getting a little dark now. Most of the centre is pedestrianised with lots of nice shops and narrow streets. We had a look around the marina and had a walk along the front which was lit with fairy lights. We decided for tea we’d have fish n chips so we got some from a nearby fish bar, but as it was too cold to eat them outside went back to Tonks and ate them there. We then headed back to Yarmouth for the ferry and while waiting in the queue (with the 2 other cars, that’s all) we saw a black tie party donning life jackets and heading down the sea wall steps to get into some dinghy’s. They had a razz around on the sea in the dark before coming back for photos! On the ferry this time we took the dogs up to the lounge with us where they promptly fell asleep!