Shortest Version: Wonderful experience with a great group of people and a great guide. Weather good most of the time with a few memorable exceptions. Everyone made it through the tour Covid free. Nice variety of sights and experiences.
Longer Version:
Pretour I stopped overnight in London. I landed at Gatwick and took the train to St Pancras where I checked into the Premier Inn for the night. I had enough time and energy to do a short excursion to the British Library across the street and enjoyed viewing their treasures exhibition. The next morning I ran some errands and then boarded a high speed train from St Pancras to Canterbury West. A short taxi ride to the Canterbury Cathedral Lodge and I was ready for the tour!
Canterbury: Hotel is in an amazing location and their breakfasts are not rivaled by any other location on this tour. We had our tour orientation where I learned that 3 tour members were on their first RS tour and everyone else were veterans. One couple had done 13 previous tours! I was the only person traveling completely solo which was a bit unusual, but this friendly group always included me. We had time for exploring Canterbury, a walking tour, a tour of the Cathedral, went punting on the river and there was an optional beer tasting. The Cathedral graciously opened up the Huguenot Chapel for our group at my request due my family connections with it. Evensong was also very beautiful and moving.
Day trip Dover: Dover Castle, Secret Tunnels, The Battle of Britain Memorial, and a walk along the White Cliffs of Dover were on today’s agenda. One thing I particularly liked throughout this tour is that we were given an orientation to a sight and then allowed to explore it at our pace or focus on the parts that interested us most.
Next Day: We headed to Battle, to view where the Battle of Hastings took place. This was especially intriguing to me ever since I saw the Bayeux Tapestry in Normandy. We had time to explore and walk the Battlefield. I also strolled through the town where I thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the shop windows that had been decorated to celebrate the upcoming coronation. One had a hand knit fairly large King Charles figure in it. Lots of creativity in every town and village we went to in decorating for the Coronation. The next stop was a short break at the Victorian pier at Eastbourne where the guide treated everyone to an ice cream and we walked the pier and surrounding area. Onto a highlight for me, Burling Gap and walking a section of the South Downs Way. Beautiful weather and amazing scenery. Those that did not want to hike, enjoyed spending some time on the beach there. Onto Alfristan to spend the night.
Next Day: Portsmouth and onto Salisbury. A very enjoyable time at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. A light rain off and on in the morning, but nothing that would slow anyone down. I had been here before but had not gone to the Mary Rose before so I focused my energies there. So interesting and well presented. I always get a thrill walking on the HMS Victory from the Battle of Trafalgar. On a personal note, my grandfather served in the Royal Navy during WWI and was stationed here for a short time. I love the connection with him. Next we drove through the New Forest and stopped for a cream tea at the Green Dragon Pub. We ended in Salisbury with a short orientation walk.
Salisbury: our day stated with a guided tour of the cathedral. It was interesting and included a demonstration of their very old mechanical clock and an explanation of the unique foundation of this Cathedral when the water table is just 4 feet down. The rest of the day was free so I did Laundry and took a rest. Touring can be tiring!
Continued in a post below………