Patrixbourne to Canterbury

 

I have arrived! The journey is over. My backpack was spotted in the Cathedral!

 

I nearly wanted to ask where I could put my stuff down for the night! It looked very comfortable to do so!

Fortunately, Ada was there to welcome me and guide me home. 

After quite a chilly night in the church in Patrixbourne, it was the coldest so far and this church did not have underfloor heating (however, breakfast was provided!), I set off towards Fordwich. It was only a shortish walk today, so to arrive in Canterbury early afternoon.

First stop after 15 minutes or so was Bekesbourne Church.

 

With a Romanesque door:

 

Romanesque detail:

 

I am still following the Nailbourne through Bekesbourne. And what do you do when you combine a dry river, a railway line and a farmers crossing / footpath? You stack them together 🙂

But further on, near Howletts Zoo although the Nailbourne is still dry, 

 

 

The Little Stour begins, and the Nailbourne joins it a little further on.

 

 

But it's for me time to leave the Nailbourne and go across country and through Howletts Zoo via the public footpath. The Elephants were not out yet, but I saw these curious guys

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From their through lovely wooded areas to Fordwich.

 

 

And I saw this curious mushroom

 

 

And took an early banana break.

 

After which I came across this Great Beech.

 

 

A lovely old tree, with many inscriptions.

Fordwich is England's smallest town. 

 

 

With quite a few old buildings. The Townhall:

 

 

A posh pub (Fordwich Arms):

 

And just (!) another house in the town: 

From Fordwich travel continued to Canterbury, through fields, woods, a golf course and alongside this lake.

 

From there through more woods with many confusing footpaths to St Martin's in Canterbury. St Martin's is the oldest continually in use English speaking church. It is older than the Cathedral. 

In Angel-Saxon (6th Century AD) time King Ethelbert ruled over Kent. He marries Bertha from France, but she was a Christian. She negotiated that she could bring her own monks and that a Church could be built. St Martin's has been in use ever since. 

King Ethelbert converted to Christianity, and this was the reason that St Augustin came from Rome to found the first Abbey in Canterbury. 

Walking from there to the Cathedral takes 15 minutes, so I did a quick detour to see the statues of Ethelbert and Bertha as he greets her, as she walks down from St Martin's 

 

Quite romantic... 

Finally I also arrived at the Cathedral, where I met with Ada! After visiting the Cathedral and thanking God for a good journey, we walked home. 

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Elham to Patrixbourne

One more night, then the journey is over!

The journey today went from Elham, to Barham, Kingston, Bishopsbourne Bridge to Patrixbourne. Not too long a route, just a bit of 12 miles, but it gave me some time to look around as well. 

Also as the walk followed Elham valley and beyond I followed more or less the course of the Nailbourne. Yesterday at Lyminge I saw the source of this stream, but most of thr time it is dry, and only flows whenever there's been a lot of rain. 

The following is a view back over Elham in its valley. 

 

 

And this is the house that enjoys that view! 

 

The route went over fields

 

 

And through woods

 

The latter is from Bedlam Wood, it seems to be an unmaintained coppiced wood, and everything seems dark and tangled up. 

On entering Barham, my first view of the Nailbourne, even though I have been walking parallel to it since Elham. 

 

The church in Elham (St John the Baptist)

 

It has some nice more modern stain glass windows

 

 

On the main street the Nailbourne again. 

 

I took a little detour to visit Barham's shop by volunteers, to stock up on some fruit and snacks. They also did coffee, so I stayed there a while to enjoy that, sitting outside. The weather was turning slightly, becoming more cloudy and threatening rain, but it was still pleasant to sit outside. 

Leaving Barham there was a bit of a climb resulting in a nice view over Barham and the wider valley.

 

One bit of the walk went over the remains of the Elham Valley railway line, which goes on to Canterbury and if I would have been able to follow I would have ended up very nearly home! 

But the route went next to Kingston and to St Giles.

 

I very significant Anglo-Saxon broach was found here in the 18th century. 

 

Through the village next to Bishopsbourne - the villages are now very close together... Just half an hour walk or so. 

Bishopsbourne Church is very opulent.

 

 

but very nice tiles on the walls .

 

From there followed the Nailbourne to Bridge.

 

 

St Mary's there has a nice Romanesque doorway.

 

and a new stain glass window.

 

The other discovery in Bridge is Mahony's, had a very nice BLT.

It just started raining a bit on leaving Bridge, not bed for a day threatening to rain. One more time crossing the Nailbourne...

 

 

...before arriving at St Mary's Patrixbourne.

 

My home for tonight! 

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