Day Twenty Three Stage 12 Shepherdswell to Dover - Lauren

Day Twenty -Three Sunday June 21 Shepherdswell to Dover



SSSHHHHHH I'm alone in my room. I feel like I'm supposed to be in school, everyone is in class and I'm playing hooky. 

What's important when you travel is to be flexible. There's no sense in hurting yourself or ruining a trip because you're bound by past decisions. Taking the morning off to rest my leg, which is much improved, is the smart choice. Linda went on ahead and I'll meet her outside Dover at 1PM. We'll then walk into town together. 

EANWHILE








I can get a look at the HOWFIELD MANOR HOTEL.

According to the history on the back page of the meager menu - mostly American food and what British people think Americans want to eat when we really want THEIR food otherwise we'd stay home - the manor of Howfield existed as early as 871. It was given to the monks of Canterbury in 1084. The restaurant was the chapel, which has an old well covered over in plexiglass and is called, uncreatively, the Old Well.  In 1536 our friend Henry VIII gave Howfield to his buddy Christopher Hales. Hales was responsible for prosecuting Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More and Anne Boleyn. Busy man. The manor passes around, becomes a hospital, a fruit farm then a hotel. In 2007 it shuts and falls into disrepair, to be resurrected in 2009. 

And my room has a shower. 

This is the original chapel wall, not the little shed part, imagine that's gone. I also don't think that little tower is original to the earliest portions but its still old.

I like this fountain with its crappy green water and festive rubber ducks. Sometimes I think you have to be unexpected and color outside the lines. Anyone can have a snooty classical water feature, add rubber ducks and it becomes whimsy in the face of rules. 

Original Fireplace in the Main Hall of the Oldest Section.

The front door of the oldest part of the house. This would have been the entire house, the part to the right of the  front door, the front door with its entry porch and a hall type main building. The chapel would have been added later. I also think the decorative "gables" are a later addition.

The tour continues, this is my room. I have a corner so I get a cross breeze. I'm standing by the entry door where the bathroom is, I have a desk and a TV around the corner. It's adequate. Sorry for the mess. 
I have to close the windows sometimes because England is still a nation of smokers, the smell wafts up to my room. 

The infamous sacred well, complete with mood lighting and plants. The water is very clear.

My room comes with its own predator. No, I will NOT put a finger up for scale, thank you, lets do a guesstimate of 3 inches. There is concern here that the giant Asian Hornet is flying over from France, where it was accidentally introduced through a box of Chinese pottery . It's now decimating the honeybee population. This, I think, is the native European hornet, and as such is little to worry about, though an unpleasant roommate.  

A Baby Titmouse

I watched mom and dad feeding him today.












And a hedgehog! I saw my first hedgehog last night!

Awwww... Mrs Tiggiewinkle! 

I was antsy by noon which was good because it was time to taxi to Dover where I was meeting Linda. She was at the meeting place, she walks in turbo mode, I swear you can see the dust flying. Together we did the last mile or so into Dover for lunch so she could complete this stage of the walk. 

I wont get into Dover right now because we'll be back there Tuesday when we do our last stage.

At this point we're making the decision to use the rest of our trip in a more varied way - sightseeing and shopping. We're skipping a stage of the loop but doing the one that has been recommended as a "must-do" along the White Cliffs. 

But that's Tuesday. I'm rehabbed enough to tackle those last 12 miles. I don't feel bad about not completing the entire 153 miles. If its mileage I know we did that many and more. The endpoints of Canterbury and Dover from a symbolic view, have been met. I've seen some wonderful things, found peace and pushed through times when I thought I couldn't take another step. 

From Dover the Pilgrims Way crosses the channel and becomes the 1200 mile  VIA FRANCIGENA.  The full walk takes around three months and I've read its not a difficult one, though the Alps can be a challenge. Can you imagine? I can't! This walk takes you along one of the most historic and longest pilgrimage paths. The Way begins in Canterbury and makes its way to Dover. A ferry takes the walker to Calais, where the land journey resumes, across France to Switzerland, down to Lake Geneva and along the Rhone Valley, up to the Alps and down to Aosta in Italy, along the Italian peninsula, arriving in Rome. Wow. 

Notice the Little Sign

The Christian origins of this ancient route date back to the 7th century. The Latin name Via Francigena (the Frankish Route) was given to the route first documented by Sigeric the Serious, yet another Archbishop of Canterbury, who returned from Rome to Canterbury along the route in 994 AD describing the main stopovers in his journal.

In the Middle Ages, the Via Francigena was a fundamental part of a network of pilgrimage roads that connected Christianity’s three main cities of worship: Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela. A southern Via Francigena brought pilgrims from Rome to the east coast of Puglia where they would sail to Jerusalem.

I am happy to be a small part of this bigger picture. 

So many dreams yet to be dreamt.

Now on to Linda's day!