Day 1 of the Via Francigena
Monday 20th of April
After visiting the Cathedral of Canterbury, attending the service, and receiving blessings from the Dean we were ready to start the journey from Canterbury to Rome. We were so impressed by the beauty of the Cathedral and surrounding Gardens and Park obviously the Cathedral is Canterbury founded in 597 AD by Saint Augustin. The city was rebuilt by the Romans in 43AD.
Canterbury to Dover
Well after a restful night at the Kipps Canterbury hostel at last we were on our way. With hearts full of joy and expectations we left the old city and commenced the way to Dover.
We found the way marks and went through North Downs way which is the English part of the Via Francigena.
We passed through beautiful little villages whilst walking through a beautiful countryside full of canola and young wheat fields that offered a fabulous contrast of colours deep green and bright yellow beside areas of rich dark brown soil. We reached Patrix Bourne 5 km from Canterbury with a very cute church Saint Mary’s Norman that shows beautiful Swiss stained glass and is sourranunded by manicured gardens and a small cemetery.
We continued the lovely rout and reached Woolage village beautiful tidy place with green lawns and well kept gardens. Unfortunately we missed one sign here and were forced to battle our way through Virgin forest for a considerable time. I was so glad to be with Richard because his excellent sense of orientation put us back on the road and after a few miles we reached Shepherdswell.
After a while Dover welcomed us with its beautiful and majestic white Cliffs graded by fortress dated to the 1200s(11th century). Dover is a very interesting port, the people seem to be well adjusted and friendly. This port is the entrance to England and the connection to the rest of Europe and for us was the connection with France.
Next morning we said goodbye to Dover and its white Cliffs and went across a placid sea arriving at Calais mid afternoon
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Glad you are on your way. When we stayed in Deal, we too loved the countryside along the coast and inland up to Canterbury. They were working on the cathedral when we were there so we weren’t able to see inside only the gardens which were beautiful even with lots of scaffolding and work gear around. The stone for the cathedral came from France and when they were repairing it they sent to France for more stone. At Sandwich we went on the barge that brought the stone to England and right up the river to Canterbury. Enjoy France! Laurel