Canterbury - Dover - Hastings

Last weekend, we did the South East of England, more specifically Canterbury, Dover and Battle of Hastings.

After my morning work on Friday we went off, first stop in Staines to have lunch with some colleagues of Tollef. The food were incredible late, and free drinks on the house didn't mend our lost time, so we came just too late to get to see Rochester castle from the inside.

As we headed on towards Canterbury and our lodging for the night, I realised we had forgotten Odin's things, his food, his collar (he wore his harness in the car, luckily), his coat in case of rain and a few other things. So, we dropped by a supermarket and bought him some fresh meat and a small bag of some decent dry food. During the last hour of our trip that night the rain was really heavy, and I could barely see the next car about 50 metres in front of me on the motorway. Luckily, it didn't last the night.

On Saturday, Odin had to stay in the car while we visited the Canterbury cathedral, and the Canterbury Tales. The cathedral was very nice and it was exciting to discover more of its history. The Canterbury Tales was an expensive, but funny visualization of the Tales. I have not read them before either, but I will have to now. Afterwards we took Odin for a walk in the city centre, where we saw a lot of old and new shops and nice old buildings.

Dover Castle was a big experience, with buildings and history from many time periods and regents. I got a bit closer to some of the royal history of England, and the castle was a really exciting view. A lot of photos can be seen in my gallery. Unfortunately we was a bit late to see the famous white cliffs of Dover from the tourist-site, as it was closing quite early, and the sun would go down. We got to see a little of it, and let Odin have a run before we headed for Hythe, where we would stay the night. On our way we decided to be a bit adventurous, and ignored the GPS, driving a different way. Very nice, and we got to see a bit more.

When I was checking up on opening times and admission fees for the weekends sights, I became aware that the yearly reenactment of the Battle of Hastings was taking place just this weekend! With a detour to have a look through the village Rye, we went to Battle (an actual place a few miles north of Hastings) to see the abbey raised on the battlefield, historical battle demonstrations, and, of course, the Battle of Hastings itself. This year it was a rather small one, with merely 200 reenacters taking part in the battle itself. Every 5th-6th year there's a big event with thousand or more participants. I'd like to see that some time. Still, the highlights for me included walking around the camp and the market to have a look at all the well-made costumes and equipment, it was a sheer pleasure to see!

On our way home, the GPS decided to drive us through Brighton, so we had dinner at a nice pub there before heading home. I really believe we are going to be tired of those last few miles to Oxford after some time... Next time we'll probably go west or north, at least.