Hastings, Brighton Beach, Wimborne Minster, WTRDs 23, 24, 25

We left our Dandelion cottage around 8:30 am as we had a long day of travel ahead of us as we drove to Wimborne Minster.  The roads were narrow and took every ounce of concentration to stay on the left side of the road.  Many of the roads were only one lane wide so staying on the left meant brushing against the hedge rows as we went scaring me constantly on the passenger side.  The roads were narrow, the round-abouts frequent, and it was pretty amazing that weren't more accidents with drivers speeding around blind corners and hanging loose.

Are those feet hanging out the door? Yep, and she was texting in a packed van sitting on the floor.

The roads dipped and rose over golden and green countryside,

and wound up near the sea in small towns like Hastings where the beach is composed of rounded rocks gravel rocks.  The tide drops so low and rises so high, that boats are pulled in and out of the water with large tractors.

After a brief walk around in Hastings, we were once again on the road and headed for Brighton Beach, the holiday by the sea for the Brits.  The weather was warm, sunny and glorious.  We enjoyed walking along the promenade parallel to the shore and on the long pier with its many amusement rides and play houses. We sat on a shady bench, breathed in the salt air, watched people wander by, and ate our lunch.   Summer holidays don't really start until August, nevertheless there were many folks having a great Friday afternoon along the sea.

After several more hours of hair raising driving, we arrived in the little town of Wimborne Minster late in the day, met our hosts Jon and Susan,

enjoyed a few minutes of quiet time in our room looking over the Stour River,

View from our bedroom

and then walked into town past the local church with Jon to the White Hart Pub for dinner.

Jon was meeting a friend for some brew.  So once we got there together, we split up and had to find our own way home.  Wimborne Minster is a quaint town, with few tourists, and we loved it! 

We only took one wrong turn on the way back, but did successfully find our way back before the sunset.

The following morning, Jon fixed us a great traditional English Breakfast, several sausages, ham, eggs on toast with mushrooms and beans. 

After saying our thank you an goodbye, to Jon and Susan we were once again in the car most of the day with two stops on our way to Port Isaac.  Fortunately, we have some audio books with us and were thoroughly engrossed in Origin by Dan Brown.    Our first stop was Trebah Gardens by the sea.

The Gunnera plants below are really uncommon and strange.  The leaves are easily 2-3 meters wide and create a dense forest.  They produce a pink stringy looking flower and seed cones.  The leaves and stems are quite prickly.  Russ and I agreed that it was like the man eating plant in "Little Shop of Horrors"

The garden starts at the top of a ravine and ends at the sea.

The second stop was Saint Michael's Mount.  We were surprised!  Saint Michaels was closed on Saturday, so we had to appreciate the sight from land.

We arrived in Port Isaacs about 9:00 pm with just enough time to park the car, meet our AirBnB hosts and hike down the hill from our accommodations to see a magnificent sunset.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in Port Isaac (Portwenn) Cornwall.

White Cliffs of Dover - Canterbury Cathedral, WTRD 22

June 28, 2018 - White Cliffs of Dover

We checked off two of the many places we wanted to see while in England, the White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral.  England is having a heat wave right now and the sky is clear of clouds, but our destinations are close to the sea and and wispy fog blows in with the breeze.

Russ and I drove out to the Dover White Cliffs Trust for a look at the white cliffs.  It would have been better had we been on a boat as we would have had a broad view.  Our view was of the white cliffs was limited to a single slope of white dropping to the sea.  We spent a portion of the morning walking in the Trust area enjoying the white cliffs (ancient sea beds of crushed shells),

birds,

bunnies,

views of ferries,

the Dover Port,














and the Dover Castle high above the sea and the cliffs.

Next, it was time to drive another 40 minutes to Canterbury.  We parked the car about 15 minutes walk from the Cathedral outside of the city and walked in.  Canterbury Cathedral was founded by Saint Augustine in 597 AD., the Cathedral was completely rebuilt between 1070 and 1077. We learn that it takes over 18,000 pounds a day to keep the church open for he public.

It is currently being restored and there is scaffolding and netting around the areas of work.  Nevertheless, the architecture and the Cathedral are magnificent.
We were pleasantly surprised that when we arrived, the Napa Valley High School Alumni Choir from California was performing at the Cathedral.  We caught the tail end of their performance.

Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in his Cathedral in 1170.  Becket was a martyr and honored by pilgrims donating enough money to the church to pay for all of the stained glass windows in the rebuilt cathedral.

After our tour of the Cathedral, we walked through the quaint town and enjoyed a late lunch at a local pub of fish and chips and beer before heading back to our Dandelion cottage.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in Kent, England