900

Dover to Canterbury (day one)

Four of us, and a two day walk

To Canterbury with time to talk

And sup the local beers.

So to Dover on the Ashford train

And, after endless days of rain,

The sun once more appears.

Across the marsh, slight signs of spring

Hide in the hedges, and on the rim

A heron's silent whiteness

Lifts lazily into flight,

A spirit from the passing night

Caught in the morning's brightness.

Up, up onto the Downs

Until the midday sunlight crowns

The tumuli and gilds

Each tree with February's charm.

A raven calls across the calm

Deep furrowed fields

Where rabbits amble unaware

Of fox or hunter, or the care

We're taking as we go

For no one told us of the mud,

Ankle deep where'er we trod,

Making progress slow;

So what should have been an easy day

Was bogged down almost all the way

Till by glum consent

We took the road to Waldenshare -

An eighteenth-century brick affair -

Then tackled the assent

To Coldred for our B&B -

Bourbon biscuits with our tea -

And the welcome showers,

Before we're taxied to the pub,

The Crown at Eythorne, lovely grub;

Then sleep for hours and hours.