Great Britain 2024 - Part Two - Another Friend, Cliffs, and A Bit Of English Literature

Day Five - 16 September

Our friends N_k and J_n dropped us off at the train station not far from their home and we headed east to Brighton.  We took a cab from the train station to our harbor front hotel where the Social Democratic party was holding some sort of get together.

We walked to a restaurant where we met with another friend who we'd met on the Camino in 2023.  E_a was one of the first people we met  at the start of our Camino but, since she had a deadline, ended up walking a bit faster than us and, unlike the Wife and I, had finished the whole thing.  That's a good thing for her since she didn't miss her boyfriend's proposal in front of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.  Still, in the few days from our first albergue we'd stayed at to just before Puente La Reina, we still managed to overlap our stages with hers and a friendship was formed.  That's what it's like on the Camino - friendships form quickly.

We had a great lunch and reminisced about the Camino.  E_a told us she felt like her Camino wasn't finished.  This is interesting since mine felt incomplete after my first one too.  I told her about how I'd felt and how my second Camino had finally brought some closure to me.  We invited her (and her now fiance) to join us next year when the Wife and I went back to continue out Camino.  She said she would consider it.

The Brighton Royal Pavilion.

After lunch E_a walked us to the Royal Pavilion.  As we approached we were joined by E_a's fiance who had managed to get out of a meeting in time to say hello.  He seemed keen on the Camino idea.

We visited the opulent Pavilion which was built for George IV when he was only a prince.  It was opulent like many of the royal residences we would visit around Britain.

Day Six - 17 September

We left Brighton on the train and headed for Dover.  Our original plan was to stop along the way in Canterbury to visit the cathedral but we couldn't figure out what to do with our luggage (it was heavy with three weeks worth of clothes).  911 has put a damper on lockers in train stations and the like.  Instead we went straight to Dover.

The white cliffs of Dover.

After checking into our hotel we took a taxi to the Cliffs of Dover national trust (the national trust is the UK equivalent of the national park service in the US).  We walked along the cliffs and got some nice views from a few viewpoints.  You could take boats out to get better views of the cliffs but their season ended in August and were no longer available.

Back at the gift shop I tried to call a taxi but my phone thought I was in France and I couldn't understand the error message I was getting.  Fortunately the person at the gift shop counter helped us by making the call for us.

Day Seven - 18 September

There was only one place else in Dover to see - the Dover Castle.  After considering our options we decided to take another crack at Canterbury first.  We left our bags at the hotel and took the train to Canterbury.

Inside the Canterbury Cathedral.

It was a short train ride and a short walk to the cathedral from the train station.  We took a tour of the cathedral and its gardens.  Unfortunately there was a graduation ceremony in the nave of the cathedral so we couldn't go in that part.  As compensation the tour opened up a couple places normally closed to visitors.

The Dover castle ... maybe next time.

We trained back to Dover and, after very little thought, decided to skip the castle and take an earlier train to our next destination.  We ate lunch at the hotel, called a taxi (Dover is a major cruise ship port so the wait for taxis was significant), and headed back to the train station.

Our next destination was Rochester.  Not far from there we would be doing something relatively strange.  We would be Champing.

Pictures can be found in my 2024-09 Great Britain Google Photos album.