Monday, 8^th May 2012   A BRIEF REST BREAK

Elham Kent

Arrived here in Elham last Wednesday thinking that our cousins would have arrived back from Dubai on the previous day, but as usual I had got it wrong and they were not due in until late Wednesday.  So as it was raining and cold, we just parked up the bikes in their backyard, put the bags into their garden shed and headed for the nearest pub.  Which turned out to be just up the hill in the village square.  The Kings Arms has magical properties and has somehow cast a spell on us making us totally  unable to walk past without dropping in for a pint and a half!!!   Pint of beer for Dave and A Half of cider for me!  The barman even has it poured and on the bar by the time we walk through the door!!

Since we have arrived it has been very cold and wet!  So a good time to take a break indoors.  Elizabeth has run us all around the countryside showing us the area and giving us a running commentary on the history, and interesting facts etc etc.  It’s a pity we won’t have her knowledge during the rest of our travels.

Went to the Battle of Britain Memorial in Dover and saw the castle in the distance, then down to the coast and all round the local areas, called in to some shops for some last minute supplies, but the shops are the last places we want to visit! Yesterday we took a bus to Cambridge.  Very strange travelling along these little one lane country roads in a huge double decker bus, bit of a squeeze at times and occasionally hit a bit of overhanging vegetation but all in all pretty good.

The city was amazing, so many incredible old buildings and the Cathedral is really something. We had a look from the outside but at 20quid to go in, we decided to pass.  Have to keep an eye on the pennies!  Instead we ate at a little cafe and spent an hour or so people watching – some really strange sights!!!  It was great!!  Today we had another tour around the countryside, and tomorrow hopefully our mail will arrive from Australia and we will be able to continue on our journey.

We were not very clever the night before we left!  To try and save on weight, we left behind several things, one of them being our 4 plug power board. (that’s what drinking red wine at midnight will cause you to do) Of course it is not something you can just pick up over here so we are now waiting for ours to arrive so that we will be able to charge everything up. We have bought a converter but at the moment have to charge up everything separately which is ok when you are in a house for a few days but not when on the road.

Picture below is of England’s smallest post office (so we were told) the village post office closed, so they have set up a part time post office in the pub.  Open for 3 hours a day.  Lot’s more photos on the photo diary page!!!!