Canterbury - Monday, 14 December

Had breakfast, updated the blog, finished packing up, and got to station about 10 minutes before the train left – after stopping at Camino again for another Valor on the way. It was sure convenient to be so close to the train.

It turned out it was only the second day of service for this high speed train, although it had been in trials for a few weeks. Not many people on the train, and since it was new, it was very clean. I was even interviewed on the train by a French TV crew (I may be famous in Paris!). It was a nice ride out – reached speeds of 140 mph and went through 3 large tunnels, an especially long one at the start. A very sunny day out in the countryside with some low clouds and fog drifting around – lots of green fields once we got away from the city. Listened to Richard Sinclair (one of my favorite bass players from Canterbury bands Caravan/Hatfield and the North/Camel) on the mp3 player on the way out. Canterbury music has an incredible amount of nostalgia for me...

Walked from the train station to the Pilgrim’s Hotel within the walls of the old city – only about a 10 minute walk and I had no problem finding the place. Much colder out here than in the city. Very nice, very small, loft ceiling room on the 2nd floor (our third floor), with tight stairs and hallway to get up to it. I could see the Cathedral above the rooftops from my room.

Had lunch in the Boho Café out on the High Street, the main street through the city center (the majority of the city center is pedestrianised and very nice, with cobbled streets and crowds of people constantly – it reminded me of the crowds in another tourist town – downtown Sedona). Broccoli and stilton soup and chicken livers with bacon in wine sauce on brown toast – very good, but rich. Friendly staff and funky, cluttered little hippie-like restaurant. Got some live music recommendations from the barista/host.

High Street:


Went to the visitor center to get a map of the city and find out about river rides on the Stour, which runs through town and into the countryside – sometimes they do it in winter, but there has been so much rain that the river is up and boats can’t get under the bridges easily, so no boat trips for a while.

Stour River:


Also checked on tours of the west tower – only on Saturdays in winter, unless there is a large group – the woman recommended I check with the Canterbury Museum to see if there is a large tour planned, so I headed over there next. A tour on Friday, at which time I will be back in London. :-(

Walked around town and looked in shops. Found a little indoor market with a cd booth which contained a section called “Canterbury Scene”. Turned out the owner grew up in Canterbury and was friends with a lot of the local musicians to whom I have always listened. We spend a good deal of time talking about Caravan, Soft Machine, Hatfield, Gong and the places around town where they played (the host at the hotel had never heard of the Canterbury music scene – but he was only in his 20’s…). He also told me about the funeral of his close friend, bassist Hugh Hopper, who died this year. Hugh evidently used to come in the shop quite often and ran it when the owner was away.

By the time we finished visiting it had gotten dark and quite cold (only about 4:30), so I went back to the hotel and put a t-shirt on under my cord shirt and got out my gloves and scarf. I headed back out and wandered around town. High Street was lit up with blue lights strung back and forth overhead and in trees and there were still quite a few people milling about. Walked around the Cathedral – as I walked through the gates the size of the building was stunning. It was beautiful lit up in the night. It had closed at 5, but you could still walk around the perimeter. There was some kind of night bird singing in the trees by the east end.

I planned to stop in at the Cricketers, a pub on High Street owned by the drummer from Caravan, but I was very tired and headed back to the room. Watched some British TV for a bit – a nice, small HD television mounted on the wall on a swivel so you could move it out of the way to get to the desk and back side of the bed. To bed about 10 after local news and Britain’s evening soaps, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.