I spent from October 22 to 29 in the beautiful walled medieval city of Canterbury, Kent. I traveled by train, taking the slower two-hour route to see more of the countryside (London to Canterbury can be achieved in an hour on the high-speed train). I found it to be a delightful, vibrant and very walkable city.

One of the highlights for me was Canterbury Cathedral. The depth of history and the profundity of spiritual experience I found very moving. Read all about the Cathedral here.

Another gem of the city, tucked away right off the high street, is the Franciscan Gardens, which was the home to the first Franciscan settlement in England, established in 1224.

There was lots of great walking right in the city and all amenities within a few minutes walk, plus a great indoor farmer’s market called the Goods Shed. I was surprised tho by the numbers of tourists crowding the streets in late October!

Would visit again for sure, and perhaps take on part of the Old Way Pilgrim walk!

Monday October 21 was my last day in London. I decided to visit Kensington Garden, which started as an 18th century royal palace garden and became one of the public gems of London. It was a grey day, but still perfectly lovely. I started near Kensington Palace, circled around the lake, past the Albert Hall and Italian garden.

On the way back, I popped out of the tube at St Paul’s Cathedral.

I took a day off on October 19 to rest and work. Thank goodness, because the next day was wonderful and intense!

At 6:15 am I headed out take a bus to Elephant and Castle, tube to King’s Cross, train to King’s Lynn in Norfolk (because it was Sunday and there are ongoing rail improvements, the train took me to Ely where replacement busses were waiting). Hopped off the bus in King’s Lynn and was happy to see a cab, so I grabbed it and off we went for the 20-minute journey to Houghton Hall and Gardens. My drivers in both directions were so lovely and great conversations were had!

Houghon Hall was constructed in the 1720s for Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and is still inhabited by Walpole’s descendant the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley and his family. The house and gardens are exquisite, and are also home to a large contemporary sculpture collection while hosting rotating special installations.

This year the Hall featured works by Antony Gormley and Magdalene Odundo. I was happy that part of Odundo’s exhibit had been held over. See more about both exhibits here.

Other favourite things about the day were the beautiful walled garden, the cafe, the toy soldier museum and the lovely people I conversed with!

I didn’t get back into London until almost 9 pm! A long day but oh such a wonderful one!

October 18 was another beautiful day in London. My main adventure was a visit to the Sir John Soane Museum. This is a magical place – the home of a renowned English architect which has been kept as it was at his death in 1837. I will let the museum’s website tell you more! I really wish GJ had been with me; I think he would have loved it!

I also wandered around Bloomsbury for a while and found a blue plaque for Bertrand Russell:

The afternoon ended on the south side of the Thames in Southwark. I had a lovely early supper at The George (1676), London’s only surviving galleried inn (recommended by my beloved sister). And, popped into Borough Market just before it closed.

Today is October 29, and I am on the train back to London from Canterbury. Feeling quite sad to be leaving all the wonderful things I experienced there! More on that later.

For now, I am looking back on my second day in London, October 17. It was great to head out unencumbered by my ridiculous quantity of luggage. Brockley station has an infrequent service to London Bridge (I learned later it was much quicker to take the train to Canada Water and transfer to the tube there). Not far from the station at London Bridge is a little arcade called Hays Galleria. There I found White Mulberries cafe and had an excellent breakfast and tea. The Shard is right near this station.

I took the tube to King’s Cross and spent several hours exploring all the streets and squares. I stumbled on the Royal Watercolour Society which had a wonderful show on. I became a bit lost and quite by accident found myself in Trafalgar Square! Hooray, lunch at the Crypt Cafe at St Martin in the Fields and a visit to the beautiful church.

A quick tube ride from Charing Cross to Piccadilly Circus then I walked along the Thames back to Blackfriars for the train back to Lewisham.

And such a brilliant adventure so far! Plans began to form earlier this year, and it felt like it would never begin. Through so much support and generosity, begin it has!

I am sure some of you can guess where I am. Correct, I have returned at last to Britain. I arrived in London on October 16, and headed directly to the V&A where I could check my luggage and relax for the few hours before I was able to check in to my accommodation. I admit to visiting the café twice as I was quite hungry, but I also spent some time in the Cast Courts.

Eventually I made my way via ThamesLink to Lewisham in South London and a most excellent AirBnB. My room faced the back garden and the dawn chorus from such an array of birds was both delightful and surprising!

Wishing you, dear readers, all the lovely blessings of spring!

While walking along the harbour this morning, the tops of the guard-rail posts caught my eye. Old and weathered, the posts were hosting a variety of moss and lichen – each post its own little landscape. Purely delightful.

We are very lucky here on the Canadian south coast to receive the gift of Spring much earlier than our neighbours in the rest of the frozen country. On February 13, 2021 we woke up to a reminder that it was still technically Winter – a beautiful blanket of snow. This February however – at least so far! – has been lovely. Flowers are popping up all over and we have had a good number of sunshine days.

The other day I saw some early cherry blossoms delightfully teasing the last little bit of downtown Winter festive decor. (I do love that the greenery baskets were left up around the city!)

As much as I love Winter, I am happy that the days are becoming longer and warmer.

Here’s a photo of the Inner Harbour from February 13, 2021:

Most Fridays, I head out at 7:15 to meet a lovely friend for a walk. We choose from a few different favourite routes. It’s been fun to see how the light changes each week.

The last three Fridays have provided a variety of weather. January 21 offered the most beautiful sunrise. We took the Westsong Walkway around the inner harbour to Esquimalt. The bird watching is particularly good along this route.

January 28, we walk through delicious fog downtown and along the outer harbour walkway to James Bay.

Last Friday was just a late-winter cloudy day, but it was so much brighter when I set out!