Canterbury on the bus...

Monday, 13th June

Meant to say that one of the dishes being sold at the French Market was being cooked on a huge pan, (like a paella pan), and it was simply sliced potatoes, bacon, onions and cheese, and pots of cream. Totally not good for the heart or whatever, but it smelled wonderful!!

We also wanted to get and try some of the cheeses, but we'd have nothing to keep them in on our trip across to Southampton, and they'd be wasted and spoil. The other interesting thing was that many of them are made with fresh milk that hasn't undergone any treatment, and the taste difference is quite marked.

So, after bacon and eggs, we headed to the town square to catch the bus to Canterbury, to see the cathedral and the city. The bus took about 40 minutes, but went through some really nice countryside and cute towns. Some bus stops seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and the people waiting must have come from nearby farms, or been dropped off.

The bus drops you at a central terminus, and is very efficient, and all the buses we saw were well patronised, and the drivers all seemed to be very friendly and helpful.

We went towards the cathedral first, but unlike other places you have to pay to get into the whole complex, and at £8.00 each, it's not cheap. Other cathedrals simply asked for a donation, which you don't mind. The actual cathedral seems quite "menacing", and is the least favourite of all the ones we've visited. It is certainly very old and has seen some historic events, like the assassination of Thomas a Becket. 

However, it isn't one of those places where you can see down the length of the church, and there are many different levels. The crypts were beautiful, but you had to be very quiet, and some people didn't seem to heed

the notices.

The shop was good tho, and we got a nice cushion cover with a scene of Peter Brughel.

Didn't fancy any particular place for lunch, so got the bus back to Sandwich and after the nap, as it was a lovely sunny afternoon, we had a long walk around the town, and found the docks, where there are many boats, so there must be a large boating fraternity as the river goes out to the North Sea, and some of the boats were quite large.

One of the many interesting buildings was the Barbican, which was the old Toll Gate, up to the 1930's.

Then quite by chance we found a garden which had been designed by Gertrude Jekyll and Lutyens, and might have been very interesting, but it was set to close at 5.00pm, so we wouldn't have had time. Simple dinner of tuna and salad, and then an early night as we've booked to go over to France tomorrow, on the ferry for the day.