The Wandering Nomad: May 2018

"A journey of pilgrimage, how ever long, provides an opportunity to leave daily contingencies behind in order to evaluate one's quest so far and devote oneself to reflection." Buddhist scholar, Claude B. Levenson

It was an amazing journey filled with laughter, no tears, no broken bones, but sometimes wondering what direction to go! People were extremely helpful and cheering us on even though we knew some were glad it was us and not them. The weather was a challenge starting off with sun and blue skies and then one day according to weather reports it rained a year in just one day. Part way through that day of hard rain, lots of wind and trucks whizzing by us, we opted for safety and took a taxi! All in all, we saw some beautiful sights as we walked along country roads, footpaths and the A2. We even saw a red fox, but it was faster than my camera.

First day starting at Westminster Bridge ready to go!

Millennium Bridge

It was 4 miles to Tower Bridge.

I love graveyards. This was the sight of the Pilgrims leaving for America on the Mayflower. We also stopped at a pub close by and I had fish and chips--the best!

Looking towards London from the Greenwich Observatory and almost to our first stop at Blackheath below.

We spent our first night in Blackheath at a small hotel. As part of the adventure we decided not to make reservations ahead of time, and we only had one place that was questionable.

England has had a lot of rain and even snow and the flowers were blooming early. It was incredibly green everywhere.

Watling Street is the old Roman road that we sometimes followed, but of course, it changed names.

As you can tell the weather was changing. That's Nancy with her poncho. We are on a footpath leading down to Greenhithe and the end of our second day. We did make it, but there were times we weren't sure. We weren't shy about asking for help. By the end of the second day we had traveled 25 miles and we were feeling it!

St. Mary's Church on Church Street and the 15th century door was open.

We went inside and it seemed very eerie, but maybe because of the weather. It has a questionable history and maybe that's what it was.

Back on another footpath. One mistake we made was NOT having a compass. We needed a compass. We had a book with the map, but sometimes it was challenging.

Fields and fields of this flower/plant. We thought it was mustard green, but never asked.

Coming into Rochester where we spent the night of Day Four.

Rochester Cathedral and we made it in time to explore inside.

We saw these trees everywhere with its pink flowers falling on the ground almost making a carpet.

Rochester Castle dates back to Norman times. I was exploring because we had heard that a storm was coming in and sure enough it did that night and got worse as the next day progressed. We had to stop walking and take a taxi to the Holiday Inn at Sittingbourne.

Day Six and much better weather. The Red Lion at Sittingbourne where Henry the 8th enjoyed a meal twice!

St. Michael's in Sittingbourne.

I think we were feeling victorious.

Which way to go? A compass would have helped! But at least the signs are correct. We did come across one sign that'd been turned in the opposite direction...YIKES!!!

We loved these country roads and scenery.

An electric fence.

The old Rectory in Buckland.

Day Six and coming into Faversham which at one time was the capital of England.

Had to get a photo of the cute bartender at the Sun Inn. We had a delicious pub lunch of Shepherd's Pie.

We spent the night at the Sun Inn--very nice.

The building on the left was the Faversham Abbey and when we arrived the day before, they were having an open market day.

A road we didn't take.

Day Seven and on our way to Canterbury, but couldn't resist a photo of this mobile home park.

We've arrived at Canterbury Cathedral despite more rain. We saw the steeple from a distance and like two homing pigeons we made it our goal no matter that we were almost soaked. When we arrived, we told them we were pilgrims traveling from London and they were all excited and a female Vicar brought us down into the crypt to St. Gabriel's Chapel and gave us a blessing. We both felt like crying.