The Tales Of A Day In Kent

Today I took my second BU daytrip.  This time it was to the southeastern coast of England, the county of Kent.  Our destinations today were the towns of Canterbury and Dover.  This morning Katherine, Leorah, Erin, Heidi, and I boarded the bus at 8:45am and met our tour guide for the day, Ross. The trip to Canterbury took a little over an hour and a half but went by quickly because of the beautiful scenery along the way.  It felt great to get out of the city for a while and be able to see some wide open green fields, horses, and sheep. 

When we arrived in the city of Canterbury, we disembarked the bus and headed for the city center.  Canterbury is most famous for two things: the Canterbury Cathedral and it's connection to Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The Cathedral was first founded in 597 by St. Augustine and was later rebuilt between 1070 and 1077.  Thomas Becket, named the Archbishop of Canterbury in1162, was murdered in the Cathedral in 1170.  It was well-known that King Henry II disagreed with the strong-willed Becket and ordered for his knights to kill him. Since that day, Becket was acclaimed as a saint and martyr and many individuals visited the Cathedral each year on pilgrimage.  This in turn inspired Geoffrey Chaucer to write The Canterbury Tales. I am really glad that we took time to visit the Cathedral because of its beauty and historical past.  It was really cool to get to see the tomb of Edward the Black Prince and to take in all of the stunning stained glass and architecture.

The Canterbury Cathedral

Quire of the Cathedral

Some of the gorgeous stained glass windows

After seeing the Cathedral we only had about 40 minutes to grab lunch before meeting up with the group to head back to the bus.  Because of this we ordered burgers and chips at a small pub down one of the side streets.  Unfortunately for us, the pub only had one chef on hand and our food took about 35 minutes to come.  We devoured our burgers as fast as possible, laughing all the while because of the ridiculousness of the situation.  During this process Erin exclaimed, "Everything is funny when you don't have time to laugh," which of course sent us into another raging fit of laughter only making it harder to eat quickly. After finishing what we could of our meal we sped back to our meeting place. We headed back to the bus as a group and then continued on to Dover. 

Dover is located at the shortest crossing point to France on the English Channel.  Driving into town we could see the amazing silhouette of Dover Castle.  For over 2,000 years there have been fortifications in the location of this castle on 'Castle Hill.'  The current layout of the castle was developed by Henry II in the 1180s.  I have to say this was one of the coolest sites that I have ever seen!  It is one of the largest castles in all of the United Kingdom and provided the most awe-inspiring views of the channel and village below.  Our visit began by braving the windy grounds to explore the Great Tower which featured many rooms set up like they would have been in Medieval times.  We had fun climbing the spiral staircase up to the top of the tower to see the spectacular view of the castle grounds as well as snapping photos in the decked out rooms along the way up.

View of bridge leading to Great Tower

View from top of Great Tower of Roman pharos and St. Mary-in-Castro

Leorah, Katherine, and Me next to the battlements

Amazing view down towards the city

Next, we traveled down the hill to visit the Secret War Tunnels.  During the Napoleonic Wars, tunnels were dug into the chalk cliffs to provide additional barracks and storerooms for troops and their equipment.  Later during World War II the tunnels were converted into an air-raid shelter and then later into a military command center and underground hospital. Our tour took us through the mess hall, dormitories, and kitchen.  I was really enjoying the tour until we got to the operating room.  I did not appreciate the sound effects and detailed story about a fighter pilot who had to be operated on and ended up feeling a little woozy and lightheaded.  Thanks to my friends I quickly recovered.

Leaving the tunnels we attempted to get a glimpse of the famous white cliffs of Dover.  Struggling to make the hike down the steep hill, we decided to turn around and visit the Roman pharos and Church of St. Mary-in-Castro before returning to the bus.

Our last stop in Dover was at the beach down in the town to take a few pictures of the white cliffs.  Because the day was so rainy and overcast, we couldn't see the cliffs in all their glory but still enjoyed seeing their massive presence on the coast.

White chalk cliffs of Dover

All in all, it was a very eventful and interesting daytrip, and I am very glad that I decided to go on it.