Kent 5 - Rochester /don't stand on the steps /health and safety gone mad

---

The alarm pinged off at just before 6. We were off to Kent for a few days. A much needed break away from the usual day to day routine . In the darkness I tore off the calendar thought for the day. I had been stuck with a run of repeats thoughts from previous years but today gave me a much needed boost . " Today is your own" " Tomorrow perchance may never come" A bit morbid for a thought but extremely true . We have kept putting off trips since selling Gabby but today was one the first we forced ourselves to organise .

Organising had not been easy . We had to choose days that fitted in between football matches . Places to visit had to be open. Car parking had to be readily available . A hotel had to be handy. In the end the hotel was not an easy thing to arrange . But arrange it we did . We miss the impulse of having a holiday quickly with Gabby. She was always full and ready to go at a moments notice . With her gone things take a lot longer to plan and cost a great deal more . A night on a pub car park might be free although two meals would need to be purchased at a cost of up to £25 . A hotel for one night in Gillingham cost £109 with breakfasts and an evening meal at at least £16 each. So the cost of a Gabby day out would be around £25 but one night in a Premier Inn or similar would cost £141 . We could stay a week away in the van . Clothes were always in the van ready to go plus food for the trip. The last few days have been spent deciding on how big a suitcase we need and what clothes are needed for the trip.

We filled the car with no name with petrol yesterday so he was ready to go after breakfast . The sky was grey and overcast with no sign of the sun. The sat nag took us up the A41 to the M6 toll. There were more cars on that than we had ever seen in the past . It certainly had become more popular to pay the toll over the years . The price had increased to £9 per car which seemed rather expensive but did save us time as there were traffic jams around Birmingham. We stopped at Newport Pagnall services for a coffee and a croissant . It seemed odd to be stopping to use the toilets and the facilities . As we drove we spoke about other travellers. The bloggers we used to read have either stopped travelling by van or just stopped travelling .

As we headed south the sun made an appearance . The traffic built up as we headed for the M25 . The ring road from hell was as always busy . It felt odd to find ourselves coming off at the turning on the M2 for Gillingham . Normally we would continue to the Eurotunnel . Will we use the tunnel again we asked each other ? Not sure perhaps Eurostar to Paris .

Rochester was difficult to negotiate . We had crossed the Thames earlier and were now on our way to Kent and would need to cross the Medway. The town was busy . There was a good deal of traffic on the road . Sally Sat Nag had been asked to take us to the strangely named Cathedral Garage car park . It was round the corner from the cathedral but there was no garage in site . It was a fairly large car park but unfortunately it was full to bursting . No spaces at all on what was called a short stay car park . Short stay normally means 2 hours or less . Here it meant 5 hours which meant no spaces available . We tried the multistory . We drove to the third floor before meeting a driver on the way down who with a Kentish accent told us no spaces on the mutltistory .

It is at point that you start to lose the will to live . Next spot and it would be a last one was the Esplanade which ran alongside the Medway . That looked packed however we found one space below the castle . Bingo as they say . We paid our £3.70 to park and head for the Tiny Tim cafe for lunch . It felt that everything was Dickens themed . The cafe was tiny and painted everywhere to look like something from a Dickens novel . It was a bit over the top . Food was slow . We ordered two coffees. Both were cold by the time the Scrambled egg on toast and All Day breakfast turned up. £24 and not worth it . We missed parking Gabby up and cooking lunch in her .

Leaving the cafe we mused that the fish and chip shop opposite might have been a better option . Our first stop of the Kent trip was the Cathedral . Pretty impressive - it reminded us of Poitiers in France in style . Following the invasion of 1066 by William I the cathedral and its lands were gifted to his half brother Odo of Bayeux. Oddo spent the money and left the church to decay . Gundulf was the builder who restored Rochester to the condition we see today . It was impressive to be fair . Following Odos fall Gundulf was appointed as the first normal bishop of Rochester in 1077. As we walked around the cathedral which was bright and airy we were to see several gravestone of early bishops from the 12th and 13th century .

The new cathedral was started in 1080 to replace the old Saxon church . Outside the new church was a footprint of stone which showed where the old church stood . A massive magnolia tree was just coming into bloom . We wandered around the inside with its medieval wall paintings and small chapelf . It was one of those pleasant places where there was much to see and admire . The transept was 120 foot long and 14 foot wide . The undercroft turned into a small museum and a cafe which rather detracted from the beautiful space. The quire was closed off . I went up the steps to take a photograph and was shouted at for climbing the steps . Health and safety gone mad .

We were encouraged to look up where there was a wooden effigy of a lady sticking her tongue out at the clergy below . It seems that services start and end under that carving to this day. Shrines once filled the church but have long gone . Henry VIII apparently visited the cathedral with Anne of Cleves and was disappointed . We were disappointed at being refused access to the quire which looked stunning .

Views on the building . It was set in a lovely spot in the main area of the town. The staturary outside rivalled anything we had seen in France . The Norman influence was evident . Did we like being ushered out for climbing the steps , No that irritated us . It was free to visit but donations were welcomed . Some of the books produced by the monks were stunning on a small scale but worth seeing . Was it the best cathedral we had seen ? It was a lovely one still in use today . Could the staff have been more accomodating - probably . I hate health and safety .

We left the church and headed out up the town . We had a Norman castle to see and a museum we had spotted down the road . Our first visit of the day was over . Rochester Cathedral done and dusted .

---

Comments

[Home and Away]

I get the sense that you miss Gabby.
Any chance that you will go back to a motor home?

[JenGog]

gabby
Yes I miss the flexibility of travelling . Feels still extremely odd not being able to just get up and go . I must stop complaining !!!! No I don't think we will ever go back to buying another one now . Glenn will be 78 this year and with his knee it would be hard work . Looks like van life is definately over and I am going to have to keep thinking of ways round it . Kent was OK although staying in hotels is not our style . We got to see a bit of the county . And the cat was well looked after so we did not have to worry about him :)