Time warp back to 35 years ago, when I lived in Canterbury.

 Neither time, nor my aching feet permitted me to go everywhere I wanted to in Canterbury today. So I will need to return at some point. I opted to not cover the cathedral today, as there were literally a hundred or more German students waiting to go in. 

When I return, it will hopefully be quieter. I also had to omit the City Walls, the Dane John Gardens, and St. Augustine's Abbey. 

So much to see, so little time...........................

However, what I did cover today, is about to be added to the Kent2 page

I now have time.........................

 I finally have time to myself, and decided to do a massive overhaul and update on these pages. I'm gradually going through all of my thousands of photos that I've taken over the decades and adding them, together with historical notes and explanations.

Now, this won't be a quick process, and some of the pictures are so old, they're pre-digital. Wherever I can, given the opportunity, I will visit some of the sites and replace the pictures with better ones.

However, if there are places and buildings that no longer stand, I will leave the old ones extant. So far I've overhauled the pages for Cornwall, Dorset, Kent and London. I will complete the more comprehensive pages first, before turning my attention to the less visited (by me) places.

N.B. A second page has been added for Kent, to accommodate all future explorations, as the one page was getting too large to manage. 

It may be in the future, that I will consider doing this for other counties

Broadstairs

 So today, I rode to Broadstairs. Now I'm not a huge fan of the works of Charles Dickens, but he loved Broadstairs, and Broadstairs loves him still. If you are a fan, then try and visit if you can. It is possible to identify places in his books. It's not the easiest of places to get to - you either have to brace yourself for the huge amount of roundabouts and traffic in Westwood Cross, or brave the cluttered streets of Ramsgate. 

It's all worth while when you get there though - with narrow streets full of old buildings, that lead down to the beautiful aspects of Viking Bay.

Pictures and info on the Kent page shortly..............

A country in mourning........

 With it being the first of 12 days of National Mourning for our beloved Queen, I decided not to do one of my happy town visits, but instead, to travel to our County Town of Maidstone, where the National Monument Against Violence and Aggression is in residence for the whole of this month.

Standing 30ft. high, the Knife Angel is made from more than 10,000 bladed weapons seized by police forces all over the country, and his visits are accompanied by a knife amnesty, and a programme of school and youth visits etc. 

N.B. as it stands in the corner of Brenchley Gardens, Maidstone's Memorial Gardens, I took the opportunity to stroll around there too, and those pictures are on the usual Kent page. Meanwhile, here is the magnificent Knife Angel...............

West Malling

 Today's visit was to West Malling, which has one of the longest, and most varied history of any small town in Kent. From the Norman Conquest to World War II, there are reminders everywhere of what an important place it was. As I had already visited Offham today, I didn't have time to explore it all, so I will go back in the not too distant future

This week's target - Whitstable

 Today's ride and walk was to the little harbour town of Whitstable on the North Kent coast.  As usual, full details and pictures are about to be added to the Kent page. If you want to visit somewhere in Kent, you could do a lot worse than Whitstable.

As well as being very pretty, from the beach you can see the Isle of Sheppey, the coast of Essex, and a couple of the forts in the Thames Estuary.

This week's Ride/Walk

 A bit of a disappointment really. Yes, I rode 94 miles and walked 3.5 or thereabouts. But Deal and Walmer (apart from two stunning castles which I will cover another time), have very little to inspire you. But, as usual, pictures will be going up on the Kent page

Poking aroung FAversham

 So, Faversham - who'd a-thought it's almost as attractive as Sandwich, and has more than a fair share of ancient buildings and history to tell. As usual, I'll be adding it all in to the Kent page

These town trails are fun!

 I've just come back from completing my second one. The first one I did was Tenterden, and I was surprised! I thought I knew it well - turns out I didn't.

I've just done Sandwich, which is undoubtedly one of the stars of Kent.  So now, I'm off to update the Kent page with all the information I gleaned and pictures I've taken

More to come in Kent and Sussex.

 I've just come across a wonderful series of little books, that combine town walking trails with little quizzes. I've fallen in love with them, more so since I completed the first one today. They're all based in Kent and a few in East Sussex.

I chose Tenterden for the first one, and although I've lived in this area for most of my life, and thought I knew Tenterden well, I found I really don't!

So, as I complete each one for my own amusement, you will find lots of words and photographs from me.

If you fancy trying these out for yourself and you are in this area, you can buy them at QuizTrails  

So, keep an eye on my Kent page and for updates on Sussex, but don't expect me to give away all the answers.....................

Reminiscing

 With the advent of the warmer weather, and the lack of Covid restrictions, today was an ideal day for pootling about Romney Marsh, revisiting some of my childhood haunts.

So, if you turn to the Kent page, you will see 4 new villages added (Bilsington, Burmarsh, Old Romney and Snave)

I will soon be adding three more found sites of lost Marsh villages, but today wasn't an ideal day to go and photograph them, as there is a lot of road works going on, and several of the roads I would normally need, were closed off So look out for further information later in the year on Blackmanstone, Orgarswick and Eastbridge.