Today we decided to go to Canterbury. We used the park and ride to get there, and we walked straight to the cathedral which I would describe as long and narrow, and fairly plain inside save for the stained glass windows of course! This surprised me a little as it was quite ornate on the outside, but it was very grand inside without going over the top with the decoration. Inside there were various tombs including those of King Henry IV and “The Black Prince”, and I never know with these tombs whether the people depicted on the top are just inside said tomb or buried in the crypt…..
We came outside and walked around the cloister before walking around to the Canterbury Roman Museum. Before we went in there, we popped into a cosy little café to have some lunch. I had a Ploughmans Lunch which was very nice, and Mathew had practically the same thing but all put into a sandwich! I was glad that the face did decaffeinated coffees so I had a nice cappucino as it was a little chilly outside, the wind was picking up although the sky was sunny and clear of clouds.
We left the café for the Roman Museum for which we had a “2 for 1” given to us when we went into the cathedral earlier. It was quite a small Museum, not a lot inside, but it was quite fun. The first part involved a little set up of an archaeologist in his office. His monitor was a huge chunky one of course, and for some reason there was a huge brick of a TV in one corner of his “office” along with various books and journals….well I guess it’s half right, we do tend to hang on to random things for no reason….! Actually, the last part which we saw was even more amusing - basically we were looking at the ACTUAL remains - tessellated pavements and nice mosaic floor surfaces - but there were two mannequins which were both dressed in smart trousers, shoes, tweed jackets with a shirt and tie, both supposedly “working on site”…!! I know this was probably set up a good few years ago but nowadays…..Ha! As if!!
We left the Roman Museum and walked around Canterbury a little. I was hoping to see some nice shops to pop into but I didn’t see many which I hadn’t seen in other towns and cities before. Either that or we were on the wrong streets, but it was still a very nice town to walk around. I would describe it as a much smaller yet more dispersed version of York. It is quite a touristy sort of town, but there are also many students around, and there are lots and lots of café’s, perhaps even more than or just as many as there are shops which I find quite unusual as we’re often trying to find a nice little place to have some lunch which doesn’t just serve bog standard disappointing sandwiches made with stale bread! Oh and there was a Starbucks but Mathew didn’t let me go in! Hmph!
There are plenty of pretty, interesting old buildings in Canterbury too, I love these buildings and I have noticed in some of the local villages near where we are staying in Bodsham, there seems to be a trend of having either square or really fancy-cut tiles decorating the FRONT of the building, which is very unusual but it looks so good and to me, it makes some buildings look quite old. I have no idea if some of the private houses are old on the inside, but many of the buildings in Canterbury are clearly very old and historic, and the tiles on the façade and of course slumped tiles on the roof give the place so much character.
We left Canterbury and went back to the car via the park and ride. I felt a little disappointed that I didn’t come away from the town with any souvenirs, but at the same time I felt very good about the fact that I didn’t buy any old thing - I like to try and justify my purchases - do I need it? Or do I just want it? Where would I put it? What would I do with it? Would it just gather dust at home? All these sorts of things. So I guess I was being good really!
We headed for Hearne Bay which is right on the coast. I had spotted a walk which I thought we could do on the same day as Canterbury, which is what we decided to do. It was VERY windy and the sea was very choppy, and unfortunately the walk was incredibly boring - Mathew doesn’t mind walking on a field but when there is nothing on it, I find it totally boring and my determination to complete a walk often diminishes with my interest of the surroundings!! It wasn’t too bad though, we walked a fair way and my pedometer told me I had walked 3,400 steps there and back which I felt was a decent amount for a boring walk! While Mathew went to look at Reculver Abbey, I stayed by the car next to the sea and took some photos of the waves crashing into the rocks. I stood by the little telescope taking photos, and when Mathew returned to the car, I stood up …….and yes, I hit my head on the end of the telescope VERY hard….!!!
I felt fine, and we got back to The Smithy at around 5:30pm to have tea and a slice of cake. I seem to be injuring myself in some sort of freak accident on each holiday just lately, so we thought that hopefully, this would be my accident for THIS holiday over and done with!!
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