Arrival
The plane touched down at Heathrow airport at about 6 in the morning. I had some sleep on the trans-Atlantic flight, to prepare myself to be awake and ready to go as soon as I arrived in London. Fortunately, it seems like the interrupted, poor quality sleep one can get while wedged into an economy class seat was still good enough that I didn’t experience jet lag.
Travel Tip: One of the tips to avoiding jet lag is to adjust your schedule to your new location.
Getting through the e-gates at Immigration was fast and easy. Getting through Customs was easy too since I didn’t need to declare anything. My pre-trip research saved me a lot of uncertainty and precious time when exiting the airport.
I boarded the Tube for the first time to get from Heathrow to Victoria station. At the station, I left my luggage in the Luggage Storage / Left Luggage service for the day. I found this to be a great option. It didn’t take long to leave my luggage, and I didn’t have to spend valuable trip time to detour to the hotel. It cost about 15 pounds, but I didn’t have to haul all my clothes around for the entire day. I was already feeling like I packed too much.
Travel Tip: There is also a service that will courier your bag to another Left luggage location, usually at large train stations and airports, or your hotel, but expect to pay a lot more.
Then I went to Kings Cross / St. Pancras International to take a high speed train from there to Canterbury. It was only 9:00 and I’d already received a crash course in public transit in England.
Canterbury Cathedral
I arrived mid morning at one of Canterbury’s two train stations and walked a short distance through town to reach historic Canterbury Cathedral.
The cathedral offered an audio tour guide, which means the tour runs on your schedule, whatever that may be. There was a long version and a short version of the tour. I took the short tour, which was still about an hour.
I enjoyed hearing about the lives of the monks living in the cathedral, taking meals and working at their books. I spent a bit longer than an hour looking around.
Among the most interesting sights, to me, were the stained glass windows done by a Polish artist in a more modern style, and the herbarium, where the monk’s would grow medicinal herbs for their medieval remedies.
Punting on the Stour River
After a lovely morning, I walked around in Canterbury until I found lunch at a local sandwich shop, The Sandwich Bar. It appears to be owner operated with a steady stream of customers coming in for sandwiches.
Unfortunately, they were popular enough at that time of day that there was no outdoor seating available in front of the shop. I took the sandwich “take away” and ate in the pub attached to the Canterbury Punting Co. tours while I waited for the next boat ride to start.
Tours started every 30 minutes. I didn’t have a reservation for this, since I wasn’t sure how my day was going to play out. I didn’t want to tie myself to being there at a specific time.
I confess, I was inspired to add this to my visit to Canterbury after watching Rick Steves do it on one of his videos, only I took the ride through the city, rather than in the country.
I shared a punt boat with an elderly couple on holiday from somewhere in north England. Getting in and out of the punt, without falling into the river, was its own adventure.
The punt operator took us through some of the canals in the city, on the shallow, but pristine, Stour river, while we bundled up in the tartan flannel blankets in the punt.
We also went under several bridges, including one that was covered in spider webs. Eeek!
Whenever we went under a bridge, the tour operator had to practically lie down on the punt to get low enough for clearance.
The tour operator talked about what the buildings by the river had been used for in the past (discrete entrance and exit from brothels), and pointed out buildings of note, and the view of the cathedral’s steeple from the river. He also told us some funny stories about what it is like to be a punt operator and their shenanigans.
Then it was time to catch the train to Eastbourne. The weather had been favorable and sunny all morning, but the sky looked like it was turning.
Hiking to Birling Gap
“Under the White Cliff’s battlemented crown, Hushed to a depth of more than Sabbath peace.”
William Wordsworth, 1837
A train ride to Eastbourne took about an hour and twenty minutes, and put me far away from the cloudy skies in Canterbury, and back in the sunshine.
On the way, I enjoyed watching the passing English countryside, the hamlets, and observing the other passengers going about their routine trips.
From near the train station in Eastbourne, I took a bus and then hiked along a roadside path for twenty minutes to get out to Birling Gap.
As I rounded the final corner, the majestic cliffs came into view!
It was past 17:00 by this time. and I had planned to walk out to the William Charles Campbell monument, which I believed to be about half way between the Birling Gap and Seven Sisters. I couldn’t find the trailhead though, or it was blocked off. My feet were quite sore by this point, which put paid to my plans, and it was getting late. I made the choice to turn back to the beach instead of risking twisting my ankle on the first day of my vacation. What a thought!
So I hung out on the viewing platform, and then climbed the steps down to the shore to take in the whole awe inspiring experience.
The water was a perfect cerulean blue. The beach was entirely smooth rocks. The white cliffs stretched on and on.
As the sun started to set, I had to say goodbye so I could make the hike back to Eastbourne before the sun went down. On the way back to town, I saw some locals practicing cricket.
England has long days during the summer, with early sunrises and sunsets not occurring until 21:00 or possibly later. That’s the only reason I was able to do so much on an arrival day. I could have spent a whole day in Canterbury, and I would like to come back one day, and see Seven Sisters and the Birling Gap in the morning light. Possibly the Rick Steves’ Best of South England tour is in the cards in the future.
I took the train back to Victoria station, got my luggage out of storage, and went to check in to the hotel. Having spent the previous day traveling, and not getting much sleep, its no surprise that I was getting tired by the time I got to my lodgings.
I stayed at the London 29 in Victoria, a few blocks from Victoria station. I picked it for its low cost and proximity to the train station, and it was fine. but you get what you pay for (or don’t pay for, in this case.) My room was on the top floor (4th floor), and there was no elevator. The room had the tiniest bathroom, and only a shower, no bathtub. The bed moved when I leaned on it. Importantly though is that it was clean, and I felt safe, and I knew I wasn’t going to be there except to sleep and wash, so I could live with the spartan conditions for a few nights.
Total steps: 25,990
Staycation No More 