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Jan's Holiday Diary - England 2007 (week 3)

Saturday 9 June 2007
It is a bit of a worry today - half way through my holiday. It is going too quickly. Still, as usual, I managed to cram in another full day. After breakfast, I drove to a Park and Ride for the day, and caught the bus into Canterbury. There were already a lot of pedestrians, and I walked around the centre to understand what is in the centre of town. Just after 10:00am, I visited the Cathedral to look around. As usual, I took lots of photos and spent over an hour wandering around. I have shown you a photo looking down the length of the building. My next stop was the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey just outside the city wall. I had an audio tour here and absorbed much of the information for the next hour. The photo is of part of the abbey that was walled up and used for a while after the dissolution of the monasteries.

For the next few hours, I wandered (systematically) around the town, and visited a couple of museums, and the crypt of an old hospital (Eastbridge, the hospital of St Thomas the Martyr). The guide told me about a tiny church built over the river, not far away. I walked around to Greyfriars House Chapel, and found it set amongst gardens, and built over the river. Photo 3 is of the upstairs chapel room. I had a final look around the town and the shops, and at the huge numbers of people, and caught the bus back to the carpark. I had a look at a couple of stores nearby before driving back here.

Friday 8 June 2007
Today I have to navigate the M25 around London and across the Toll bridge at Dartford. The M25 is probably busy permanently, but I made it without much stress. The Toll bridge is immense, and there were massive road and crossover bridges being build in several locations. I headed for the Lullingstone Roman Villa near Eynsford. This is a large archaeological excavation of a villa that was in its heyday in the first few centuries AD. Quite amazing - see photo 1. I also remembered to show you a photo of my car; a Vauxhall (Holden) Vectra. Very nice (photo 2).

Then I made my way to Leeds Castle, near Maidstone. This was massive, and was a private residence till about 50 years ago, although a few Queens had made this their homes in earlier centuries. It was in very good condition, and was left as it was when the last owner moved out. It is still used for functions and residential business seminars. There was a wedding happening tonight. Leeds Castle has a large bird aviary and undertakes bird conservation activities. There are also extensive gardens and lawns in the 500 acre property. This was very nice - see photo 3. I took dozens more.

I then drove to this b&b not far from Canterbury, although it is a working farm along narrow country winding roads. No highway noise for the next three nights. No internet either, so I am going to have to try to find a public wireless connection Saturday. Oh, and I made no navigational slip-ups today!

Thursday 7 June 2007
Looking at the map, it seemed a simple matter to get from Cambridge to Basildon to meet Sandie. I thought I would have time to visit a garden on the way. But, after mis-negotiating several complex interchanges, I used up all the morning and arrived at Pitsea near Basildon just before noon. I spent a couple of hours with Sandie and Louise, and then drove 15 minutes back to the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Hyde Hall to have a look. Three photos are offered from various parts of the garden, but I cannot tell you what species have been snapped.

I then thought it would be simple to get to this b&b, but still had trouble getting to the A127. I eventually got onto it, and was travelling the right way. In the opposite direction, both lanes were clogged and moving rather slowly. I found the b&b on the opposite side of the road, and took 30 minutes to get to the next traffic lights to be able to turn around. I guess I am close to London.

Wednesday 6 June 2007
Today is a walking only day. The weather forecast looked good, so I set off in short sleeves as usual. It stayed overcast all day so it was cooler than expected, and I stayed warm only because I was walking everywhere. I wandered around the town for an hour or so, getting a feel for the layout and saw the stores open one by one. In the centre was the ubiquitous market square (photo 3).

I then went to see the largest museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum. It had one level of artifacts plundered from all over the world, and one level devoted mainly to paintings. I really did not see anything I liked, but I am sure it was an eminent collection. Could not take photos, so nothing to show you. The second museum was the museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. This was more down to earth, and showed the collections given to or collected by expeditions from the faculty over the last 200 years. One display is shown as photo 2. The third museum was the Zoology Museum. This was originally the teaching specimens, but is displayed in modern and well laid out premises. One interesting display showed the damage being done to some old specimens of bugs, etc, by live microscopic bugs, and the efforts taken to combat the damage.

At 3:00pm I meet a friend for coffee. We talked in the coffee shop, then went for a long walk along the banks of the river Cam. There were many canal boats moored along the bank, as shown in photo 1.

Tuesday 5 June 2007
Last night's b&b was a family home with four guest rooms upstairs, and mum, dad and two young kids downstairs. The kids quietened about 8:00pm, and I had a good eight hours sleep. I went back to Lincoln this morning to have a look at the Cathedral. It is the third largest cathedral in England, and is enormous. Photo 1 is one view inside. Compared to some other cathedrals, there are relatively few burial plaques inside. Right next to the cathedral is the ruins of the Bishop's Palace. Like its neighbour, the buildings were first erected around 1100AD. This building (as repaired) was in use by the Lincoln Bishop till the 1600s. Photo 2 is of the Palace staff living area, under the main Palace building

I then drove south and stopped at the town of Grantham. I stopped here because two families in my family trees came from this area. It was a small compact town, but like many, the central 'old' part of town is stagnant. Many towns have large shopping areas on the fringes of towns, often spread over several sites, and are difficult to locate for a tourist. Having walked round the town, I decided to take the A1 south to Cambridge. The ordinary two lane parts were full of trucks and were slow moving, and the three and four lane freeway parts had some really fast movers. I was happy to get off it. Tonight and tomorrow nights, I am in a guest house only 10 minutes walk from the centre of Cambridge.

Monday 4 June 2007
I spent last night in York, and thought you might like to know that sunrise is at 4:40am, and sunset is at 9:30pm today. I drove to a Holiday Inn motel nearby where there was an public wireless internet connection. I uploaded the last two day's diary, but my Emails would not download properly. Oh, well! I headed straight to Lincoln because I decided it would be about a three hour journey, and there was no direct route to get there, and no significant towns on the way.

I arrived at Lincoln about 1:30 and found a park. I walked through the town and up to the Castle and Cathedral to have a look. Decided to look at the Castle first, and was just in time for a Castle tour. This complex used to house the jail and still houses the local courtrooms. The first building occurred here in 1068 and is quite important in the network of castles commissioned by William the Conqueror. Photo 1 is of the (now unused) prison building within the castle walls. There are really only 2 structures within the castle walls, and it is used a lot for local concerts and activities.

It was now almost 4:00pm, and I was in need of lunch. Found a nice salad sandwich in the castle cafe. By now it was a bit late to do justice to the cathedral, so walked across to get a photo of the front wall (photo 2), and then headed back down the hill to the car. I even found tonight's b&b easily.

Sunday 3 June 2007
Left the b&b about 9:00am and headed into the centre of Durham, and found a carpark. The old town is in a tight bend of the river, and contains this massive cathedral (photo 2), and a castle. The castle is a boarding university, and only has one tour this afternoon. The cathedral has services for most of the day, but I was still able to enter the back part of the building to have a look inside. It is huge. Wandered around the town for a while, but nothing opened till 11:00am. Photo 1 is a typical street - they don't built them straight anywhere. I drove on towards Darlington.

Darlington is famous for being where the first steam engine ran, but the Railway Museum is closed on Sundays! Wandered around the town but the Tourist Information Centre (TIC) is also closed on Sundays, and I needed to find some accommodation for tonight. Rang the York TIC, and they found me a delightful place just outside the walls of the city. I was able to carry on, knowing I had somewhere to sleep tonight. I have pre-booked my accommodation for the next week - the next challenge is Brighton. There were a few shops open, and there was a small shopping centre, but nothing much of interest. This town struck me as a place where there were trying to modernise in the old style. It did not feel right.

Drove on towards Thirsk, and on the way found a Tesco's to buy some take-away lunch. Thirsk was a more typical, small market town with a large town square (photo 3). These days it is full of cars. Some may remember this is the town where James Herriott based his stories.

See my diary for earlier weeks - week 1 | week 2

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This page last updated on 8 June 2007.

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