Canterbury - September 1

On the Train to Canterbury

As predicted, I was dragging my bike box out of Canterbury train station yesterday about 3pm.  Manouvering a bike box through airports and train stations is not that easy, but I had plenty of help from the people I met along the way.  At Canterbury, a taxi took me to the hostel, and shortly afterward Alison arrived having reassembled and ridden her bike from the bus station.  This was good - not only had my travel companion arrived, but I got help reassembling my bike from someone who actually knew what they were doing.

After the bikes were organised we raced off to the cathedral to get our pilgrim passports stamped - more on that later.  This necessitated attendance at Evensong, which was actually very nice and the male choral voices were fantastic...  Following Evensong we received a special pilgrim's blessing in the crypt, which is the original part of the cathedral dating back to 1000 or thereabouts.  Back in the day, pilgrims used to sleep there along with their horses or donkeys but today it's a prayer room.

I was in my bed by 8:30 and after my first decent sleep in what feels like a very long time, I feel ready for the road.  Today we'll leave Canterbury and cycle to Dover, where we'll get the ferry to Dunkirk.  And tonight we'll stay in a place called Berques, about 15 km from Dunkirk.  We're easing into this cycling business - no point trying pushing it just yet.

At the Mile Zero Stone in Canterbury