Canterbury Pride and Dover
07 - 09 June 2024
On Friday afternoon, Julie and Anthony picked up our rental car, a Lexus LBX SUV, from Hertz at Heathrow. We hit the M25 headed to Canterbury about 4:30, so it was stop and go for a bit. Knock wood, It has not taken us long to get used to driving on the left hand side of the road.
Lexus LBX Hybrid SUV
We are staying in our first Air B&B, St James House, in Canterbury city center. It is a lovely 3rd story (2nd floor, they count floors from 0 here) apartment, with a kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom. It is about a quarter mile from the Canterbury Cathedral, in the old part of the city.
St James House, on the left, with the Cathedral Tower in the distance.
We did laundry immediately after unpacking, since we had a weeks worth. The apartment comes with a washer/dryer combo. Not big, but handy. We put a load in, and Anthony went out to get a pint. Julie was beat, so stayed in to deal with the clothes. The machine beeps, so Julie tries to open. Fails. Tries again. Fails. Calls Anthony (he’s not been gone very long) and he has to come back. He tries. Fails. 99% of Julie’s underwear and socks are in that machine.
Our host was finally able to free the clothes on Sunday. Yay!!! The thingy that releases the lock had broken. He gave us a work around that is pictured below. We have used it since, and have been able to get out clothes out. So all is good with the world.
View of Canterbury from our apartment, the Three Tuns below.
We soon discovered the Canterbury Pride Festival was this Saturday. There were lots of people out in the streets draped in rainbow flags, wearing colorful clothing and sporting rainbow face paint.
Julie and Anthony ran errands and did the rest of the laundry Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon we walked over to the FREE pride festival, held in Dane John gardens.
Anthony climbed up a steep hill to take a photo down into the crowd.
The Pride Festival was attended by a cross section of people. Some of them decked out in colorful regalia, alongside families with young children. The atmosphere was festive and inclusive, everyone seemed to be enjoying the spectacle.
Kerry Ellis sang show tunes. Kerry followed Idina Menzel as Elphaba in Wicked (on Broadway).
By far the best act we saw was Kerry Ellis, who brought the audience to tears with her renditions of Broadway standards (including Defying Gravity). There were also several high energy drag queen shows. One included a surprisingly straight up (no pun intended) version of the Star Spangled Banner.
Weather Bug assured us that the rain would come in Monday and stay until Thursday. So Sunday, Julie and Anthony headed for day out at the White Cliffs of Dover. On the way, we got photos of Dover Castle.
Dover Castle
The White Cliffs of Dover are an English Heritage site, accessed down the twisty windy Upper Road. Julie and Anthony hiked about 2.5 miles to the Foreland Lighthouse along the cliffs.
Images from the Foreland Lighthouse. Anthony climbed up to the top. There was some sort of lighthouse here beginning in the 14th century, but the current lighthouse was built in 1842. The lighthouse was originally powered by wood, but transitioned to coal, oil, and was one of the first electrically powered lighthouses in 1922.
Ship on the way to Calais
Dover Castle from the trail back.
On the way back to Canterbury, Julie and Anthony drove through Deal, Sandwich, Ramsgate (the rescue boats for Dunkirk, came from Ramsgate). We stopped for a walk along the ocean at Viking Bay in Broadstairs.
Google Maps
