May 7th, 2024

We did not get up for the sail in but those that did could not see the white cliffs of Dover well due to fog. We were doing the included excursion that was a tour of Canterbury in the am. Our friends Linda & Michael were on the tour with us which was basically a 30 minute bus ride into Canterbury and then a 2 hour walking tour.

We passed lots of fields with the bright yellow flowers and we were told that this was Canola flower that is used to make Canola oil and is a big revenue crop.

We had a great guide who had tons of stories to tell and since we were headed to Canterbury he told us all about the murder of Thomas Beckett and then all the miracles that supposedly happened after his death. He talked a lot about the Canterbury tales and I don’t think I ever read them but feel like I should now. He told so many stories I could not even begin to remember them all.

We unloaded from the bus a little way from downtown Canterbury and we had a great walk into town along the river. By now the sun had come out and it was clear blue skies with a high of 59.

Some views along the river

Some art along the way

I loved the old buildings with the yellow/brown moss on the roofs.

Notice the chair suspended up in the air. Our guide called it the dunking chair and said that was how they dealt with the disorderly drunks back in the middle ages. You tied them to the dunking chair and they got doused several times to help sober them up. One thing he did say was that back in the middle ages the river was not as clean and that was where the sewage ended up. He said occasionally some college kids would give it a try these days but mostly for show.

The old wooden buildings by the river and a statue of Chaucer in town.

The ornate gate that led to Canterbury Cathedral.

Outside the Cathedral we were given an hour to wander around on our own. If you wanted you could go into the cathedral at a cost of 20 pounds each. We opted not to but Linda and Michael did and said it was huge and hour was not enough time.

The Cathedral undergoing some renovation

One of the giant carved doors on the gate to the cathedral

One of the orginal gates into the the city

The other side of the gate into the city

Lots of souvenir stores and this one sold ducks. We liked how they went all in on the concept including the color of the building.

We found some nice gardens while we were exploring Canterbury.

We met the guide back at the entrance to the Cathedral at the appointed time and he walked us a different way back through town to the bus. Again telling stories the whole way.

The guide told us about this building which he called Canterbury’s Leaning Tower. It was built this way with each level sticking out a little bit more but no one knows why.

A lot of the buildings are original and built on angles.

The row houses outside of town

We passed by a house with this plaque on it and this was where the car that inspired the story Chitty Chatty Bang Bang was built. Also our last glimpse of Canterbury Cathedral.

On the ride back they stopped to take a picture of Dover Castle which sits a top the white Dover cliffs and we opted to get off with Linda & Michael and go visit the castle.

Some of the buildings on the property were built in 100AD such as this light house.

The original light house

The grounds were quite extensive.

Part of the Castle grounds with our ship off to the right hand side.

Michael modeled some of the knights uniforms for us.

You could walk through the whole castle and go up to the roof. The Castle was never really used except as a military stronghold even though built by Henry II.

Doors in the Castle

View of the town of Dover from the Castle

Dover Castle

Views of the grounds of Dover Castle.

We had a picnic lunch on the Castle grounds. It was chilly in the wind so we had warm vegetable soup.

After we explored the Castle and the museum in the Castle we were going to take the shuttle back down to the town of Dover but it took too long for the shuttle to come. Since the town was downhill we had a nice walk into town.

Dover Castle overlooking the town of Dover.

We ended up visiting another museum in Dover that had a boat that was 3500 years old. Basically just wood timbers notched together. What amazed me more was that whoever found it actually recognized it as something old and not just trash. Of course the museum also had a stuffed lion and a stuffed polar bear. Not sure what connected them all but it was interesting.

They also had this bomb in the museum with this sign. Sad that you have to have this sign

I liked the colors on this building. No one else did but I did.

We attempted to find the shuttle from the town center back to the port but it meant we had to walk back into won and we had already done 7 miles so we grabbed a convenient taxi that happened to be near us and went back to the port.

I went up to get some pictures of the white cliffs.

Hard to get a picture without a ferry in it.

We started packing when we got back to the room and the first thing that had to come down was the magnets on the wall. We have been collecting for ourselves from the new places we have been and also for our pharmacist friend who helped us get all the meds we needed for 4.5 months. We got her magnets last time and she loved them sp we thought we would do it again.

Our wall of magnets, the top are ours and the bottom are for our friend. The picture is the one that my friend Kathy got for me from the watercolor guy who got off in Sydney.

We met everyone downstairs for cocktails and I was trying to stall dinner until we sailed away thinking that the light would be perfect and we would be sailing right by the white cliffs. Of course as soon as we decided to sit down in the restaurant the boat started sailing. I went out to grab a photo and unfortunately the fog had come back.

You can barely see the cliffs.

A muted sunset.

They did another dance party up on deck 7 tonight but it was not well attended.

We have 1 more day and we will finish packing in the am since most of the morning is sailing up the river Thames to our docking space in Greenwich. We have an included tour of Greenwich at 4pm.

We will blog the final day and then do a wrap up in a couple of days.

These are our fabulous room stewards. Marc is on the right and Sandri is on the left. They have been the best!