Cars, Canterbury, Chinese lap guitars, Chandlers and Capel-le-Ferne

Lot’s of C’s. Well the car I’ll review later but as you remember we landed in England at Dover and not Gatwick as planned and Gatwick is where our car was waiting patiently for us. We managed to get a ride there with my Aunt and Uncle who were trying to get back to France. They finally did through the tunnel a few days later. After much ado with paperwork, the rental company’s computer was overloaded due to the huge influx of rentals, we got a Chevrolet Matiz which, I might just review later in the blog. After we dropped Aunt and Uncle in Worthing S and I returned to Dymchurch through the countryside. East Sussex and Kent still get my vote for one of the best scenery in the world. That is until you leave Tenterden on the road to Appledore. All of a sudden you are faced with what used to be a nice view of Romney Marsh, as bleak as it is, now blighted by multiple wind turbines to make electricity. Such a shame. However, it was a nice drive over very familiar ground. Somehow it all seemed much closer together than it used to.

Our next adventure in the car, which has now been dubbed the “Washing Machine” was to Canterbury. When I was a kid I used to dread trips to this small city as it meant trudging around shops getting clothes and shoes for “back to school” purposes. However, nowadays we love going there. Cantabs is filled with history and has played a very important roll in shaping British history right from Roman times. The head of the Church of England, the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, for example. Chaucer’s exceedingly droll and somewhat rude tales are centered on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and there has been much intrigue over the ages. Nowadays it still enthralls with charming side streets and little boutiques, the Weavers restaurant with its ducking stool for naughty witches, the cathedral (of course) and city wall remains, and European influenced cafes and bars. It was on one such café patio, enjoying a lovely latte served by an equally lovely Czech waitress (I know because I asked) that S and I watched a Chinese bloke set up what looked like a steel guitar, speakers the whole 9 yards. After a bit of tuning he inserted a cd and started to play along with it. Now it wasn’t too bad, just totally out of place, but it was loud and he only knew 2 tunes. He was still playing the same 2 tunes 2 hours later when we walked passed on our way to the bus station. The fact I even mention it is that it was actually quite terrible and it is a credit to the people of Canterbury that they tolerate this racket in their beautiful city. The astute of you will have noticed the words bus station; yes we did drive but Canterbury has a wonderful park and ride scheme. You park on the outskirts of town and ride the bus in, all for a modest fee. In return the city center is less congested with traffic and overall way more enjoyable.

From Canterbury we drove down the A2 to Dover for a quick look in Sharp and Enright. This is a chandlers that has been in business a long time, in fact I expect they sold D shackles to the romans. The shop is a gold mine of sailing junk the likes of which you just don’t see other places. It’s not too far from here in Capel-le-Ferne that one of the most tasteful and pleasant (and surprisingly free) monuments to the pilots of the Battle of Britain exists. As you park and walk over there are replicas of a Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes. Then built right into the white cliffs is a giant propellor with a large statue of a pilot sitting on the hub staring across the English Channel as if looking for fallen comrades. Behind the statue is a wall with the names of the fallen pilots from that battle. We stood on the edge of the cliffs for a while enjoying the English spring sunshine and contemplating the memorial on which we stood.