In a rogue move, Marce found a park up without even a whiff of the fresh mown grass of a cricket pitch. Electricity thrown-in gratis, walking distance to a bus stop — happy days! — but we awoke to the rising damp of an early morning English mizzle.
“The droghte of March had pierced to the roote.”
However, we are the Escapees and even with a bus ride and a wet saunter in the offing, we pressed on regardless.
“And bathed every Veyne in swich Licour.”
We stepped off the bus into a modest puddle, but this charming watchtower was there to greet us in the spitting rain.
We wandered through this charming town in Kent, soaking in its quirky shops, drizzle, and cobbled alleyways until spotting our goal down an unlikely tiny alley.
“Of which vertu engendred is the flour.”
The gates of Canterbury Cathedral.
Unfortunately it seems today is a school field trip day but even that wouldn’t slow us down.
Under repair but still magnificent, we laid the money down.
It was a considerable sum. Stepping through the beautifully sculpted door, Yours Truly found himself unable to maintain a level gaze as my focus was drawn, really, almost sucked upward until finally stopped by the extravagantly ribbed barrel vaulted ceiling far above.
Mind blown. Bear in mind this thing was built in 1070. Chaucer in his “Canterbury Tales” had his characters join a pilgrimage to this very place. We had barely stepped through the door, so good value for money as the Kiwis say.
Determined to get our money’s worth we examined every nook and cranny until we ran into these pipe organ tuners whose story had all the smalls and particulars you could imagine.
This is just a tiny practice organ. It gets tuned three times a year. The tuner, who tunes organs all over the empire, told us the big organ is tuned every month via iPad!
Deep in the bowels we found surprise after surprise.
With the sun beginning to break through we sadly had to tear ourselves away from the Cathedral to explore Canterbury a bit more.
Who knew Canterbury is the Venice of Kent?
This sums it up rather well.
