Canterbury

A view of Canterbury Cathedral, which is nestled in and dominates the town

Our son was to meet us at our hotel in London the next morning, and he was there at 9 am. We had packed up, so we went in search of breakfast, and had something to eat at Granger’s, an Australian chain. I had scrambled eggs on what they called a “knuckle” of ciabatta with butter: in actuality it was very thick toasted bread and the eggs were more like an omelette. JD had corn fritters and we both had oat milk lattes. The kind waiter allowed us to stow our baggage under a counter near our table. 

Afterwards we went to catch a train to Canterbury. Just as well our son was with us, as it went from St Pancras station, not the Kings Cross station where the trains to Durham went from. The scenery is pretty uninspiring! When we got to Canterbury he drove us to his new house. There we met our daughter-in-law and our new granddaughter and gave out the gifts we’d brought.  The new baby is just lovely, and so alert! They all look so well and healthy. She is bigger than I had expected.

After a while we drove to a nearby village (Fordwich) to have lunch at a pub there.  Pub food is generally very good, with comprehensive menus, and the staff are very welcoming. There are generally several different rooms, rather than the “booze barns” that used to be frequent in New Zealand.

 It’s all quite beautiful – old architecture and very pretty. The pub was lovely – I had appletiser to drink and a cheese and pickle sandwich (beautiful fresh brown bread) with crisps and a salad. The baby was a bit unsettled but really good. They have a lovely small pram which folds up.

Then our son took us to our hotel, the Hampton by Hilton, very near the cathedral.  It’s a 3 star, but seems to be very high quality. Our room is a good size, with a couch as requested, and plenty of towels. There is plenty of room to in the bathroom to put things. What a joy!

I did not get a lot of sleep, but I was delighted to have a long shower early in the morning and wash my hair. The breakfast was pretty good: nice fruit, apple and orange juice, and toast with butter, Vegemite, marmalade, honey and strawberry jam. The cooked food was the usual: bacon, sausages (quite delicious), tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns and scrambled eggs. They don’t seem to do creamy scrambled eggs in England! And there was coffee too. I did not see any porridge. The fruit consisted of rock melon and peaches.  There were two waffle machines, too; I really dislike the smell of the waffle makers, as I dislike the smell of popcorn. But breakfast was delicious and everything seemed clean.

After breakfast we walked to the cathedral. It is majestic, magnificent, truly amazing. There was only a handful of people there, which was nice. We bought some things from the shop on the cathedral. You can buy season tickets which are valid for a year. I think.

Then it was time for coffee. JD chose Stag, an unfortunate name for a place, evidently American, with a strong smell of frying fat. We had oat milk lattes, which were far too big, and we shared a slice which wasn’t very nice. Bad choice!

After this we returned to the hotel to wait for our son. We would do some washing this afternoon, and then go to Evensong at the cathedral at 5:30 pm, and have dinner afterwards

In the event we went shopping with him at the local M&S, buying bread, cheese, salad, ham, avocadoes and sun-dried tomatoes to eat for lunch at his house.  I had a rest there after lunch, but we did not go to Evensong at the cathedral as planned. We were going to eat at a very old pub locally, but they did not serve food on Tuesday, so we ended up having pizzas delivered to the house for tea. JD and I got a taxi back to our hotel afterwards. It cost £15, not the £9 Alfred had quoted to us!

I think I slept a little better last night, but I woke at 1:30 am and had great trouble getting back to sleep. And the headphones wore out! That was so frustrating. If I held on tightly to the end forcing it into the phone, it worked sometimes.

Again we went down to breakfast soon after 6 am.  Then after 9 am I went off to buy more headphones. I found a shop that sold them, but it didn’t open till 9:30 am on a Wednesday! So I had a look at clothes shops, specifically the H&M store. It had lovely clothes. I wasn’t going to buy anything, but after leaving I thought I was stupid not to, so I went back after all. It took me ages to find the jersey I’d so admired. I did eventually, and tried it on and bought it, taking the cardigan I’d brought out of its plastic bag to hold the beautiful new cream jersey I’d bought. Then I bought new headphones, and what a mission that was! The shop had one set, but it looked right. I wanted to pay cash, though, and that was even more complicated!

Then I went back to the hotel. JD had not made progress with his showering, so I left him again and walked to the Cathedral.  There were far more many people there this morning. I followed the tourist route (!), and went down to the Crypt. It was surrounded by several small chapels. JD later explained that each priest had to say Mass daily, so many chapels were needed. There was a weekly service in French, and a Huguenot chapel. The cathedral was a place of refuge, for those fleeing persecution.

We both returned to the Crypt, and then went to have coffee at the Cathedral Lodge, which was actually a hotel . They were happy to make us oat milk lattes, and we shared a slice of Victoria sponge.  I could even log into the hotel’s internet connection. In fact most establishments have “free” Wi-Fi available, although usually you have to give them your email address and allow cookies.

Afterwards we went to the other “official” shop where I bought a beautiful book about the cathedral for £12.  Then we made our way to the Roman museum. This involved going downstairs where there were remains of a Roman settlement that was there back in the day when the Romans were interested in conquering Britain. Actually I did not find it all that interesting.

We had heard from our son that he was tied up with the  budget announcement and budget reaction until about 3:30 pm, so we set about having lunch.

I wanted to avoid anywhere that had a smell of cooking oil, and wanted to go to a Canterbury Bakery that we’d passed and was near our hotel. It was quite roomy, and looked like being somewhere that I’d like to go. So fighting his scepticism, I found it, and it worked well – for me, anyway!  I had a baguette filled with ham and cheese (and generously buttered). (I also had a very tiny, very strong espresso coffee. JD had English Breakfast tea, and bruschetta, which was two slices of bread covered with leaves and avocado. It looked great, but my baguette was delicious, although I could only eat half of it. We also bought a bottle of sparkling water to drink some and take it back to the hotel. The butter in England is really delicious. It tastes good.

We returned, but housekeeping had not been to our bedroom yet, so we repaired  to the downstairs lounge to sit quietly and wait for our son.

That night we had inner at the Yew Tree pub. It was a very old pub, very Falstaffian! Like other good pubs, it had an extensive menu. Down a narrow lane!  The waitress was very helpful. We had pậté to start with, followed by salmon with new potatoes, broccoli and peas, and JD and I shared a creme brulée with autumn compote.

On Thursday I went for a walk after breakfast, and bought a fluffy cream jacket for £9. It seemed a sin not to buy it at that price, although I had already bought a jersey. The cheerful lass serving me even put it in a paper bag with handles which was free!  Then I went to the Cathedral again, and to St Thomas Becket’s shrine.

That day we went to a restaurant called Pedaler outside of Canterbury. This was like a warehouse that had been refurbished, and unlike other venues, was quite cold! Nevertheless, the food was good. Then we went to Margate, where J M W Turner visited often, and other famous people came there too. It has a certain charm, although I was reminded of Butlins’ holiday camps. There is a museum complex there, and a shop, of course, where we bought a book about Turner’s painting style.  I was so glad to have been there.

The next day was our last in Canterbury, for now. The next morning we went punting on the river Stour. That was quite an experience! We were the only passengers, and Emil was most informative. We had to duck our heads several times to get under the low bridges. Everything is so very old here!  The village centre of Canterbury is quite charming, and not how I’d remembered it.

We went to Evensong in the Cathedral that evening (they don’t have a public service on Thursday). It was already dark, and I worried that we would be late. You had to go in using a different entrance, and they were quite formal about the seating. It was All Saints’ Day, and so they had a sung Eucharist.

The service was well attended, and I found it very pleasant to sing in the Cathedral.  But the service was very formal, with lots of incense, and a large procession of clergy – maybe twelve?  Canon Emma took the service, and spoke about the saints having all kept the faith, as we can do, even when things seem to be floundering around us. We are all saints now, she said.  Just days later news broke of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s resignation, so in retrospect that seemed very poignant.  I had not kept up with the history of abuse by John Smyth, who was apparently a friend of Welby’s. It is another very sad story.

Then we went to have dinner at Côte, where they welcomed us warmly. You could get two courses for £17.99, and we shared an entrée, ordered two mains, and shared a dessert. What a treat, it was all delicious food, well cooked and prepared.

The next morning our son met us to catch the train back to London; that was a drama, being a very full train with lots of passengers. We had to sit separately! It was bedlam at Kings Cross Station, and I had to queue to use the rest room (of course!), but there was plenty of time between that and then a train to Durham, for our next adventure. As we weren’t returning to Canterbury for the next few weeks, we condensed our baggage into two backpacks and a small suitcase. That would have to do! Although these seemed arduous, we were to feel extremely virtuous as we saw many people lugging far more baggage than us around.

Slava Ukraini! Nga mihi nui.