Eerie English countryside

Dawn broke cold and damp, but we were expecting that. We all awoke around the same time and packed our gear in a steady drizzle. There was some mud to wash off from the late riding the previous night.

As we rolled out of the campground we encountered the manager, and he charged us a very reasonable fee for the space and water. We got to chatting and he couldn’t help showing us the amazing car project he had brewing in the garage.

Today’s first destination: Tiny local restaurant for snacks, while we planned the route ahead!

We were really digging these English breakfasts.

Back outside we reconfigured our rain gear. The weather service claimed the rain would stop, but the wind would remain stiff until we moved away from the coast a little.

I had to do a panorama of Nick being wind-proof.

The word for the next four hours was “bucolic.” The countryside put on a full performance for us, including sunshine, rabbits, birds, pretty clouds, rustling leaves, farm animals…

In the late afternoon, following the sneaky touring path between two fields, I came across a weird-looking tree creature. I had to stand there and gaze at it for a while, because the “Xenis Emputae Travelling Band” began playing on my phone, with the song “Littlebeck Trisagion: I – Elicona“. And oh my goodness, the “creepy nature spirit” factor of the thing just went right up into the heavens.

It was a great surreal moment and I was rooted almost helplessly to the spot while the song unrolled. Every 20 seconds or so a rabbit would go dashing in or out of the foliage at the base of the tree.

A few minutes later I rolled on and discovered a hillside that appeared to be bleeding trash. It looks like this disused area was a landfill for a good while. No wonder the tree spirit was so foreboding.

A little later I had to ask a question of The Duck:

Luckily Andrew was around to provide an answer!

Shortly after taking this video, I saw a fox leap across the path and vanish into the greenery. Too quick to nab a photo!

As I was lamenting my slow reaction speed, two smaller foxes scrambled across in the same place, vanishing just as quickly.

The light shifted as the day moved on, but the countryside was just as stunning.

Nick and Andrew were a good ways ahead of me, partly because I had to stop for a while and get work done, and partly because I had to stop a bunch of times to take photos, gaze at things, and pee in bushes like I always do. They had already found food on the road ahead, so as night fell I stopped at a take-out shop and bought some Chinese food.

I set out my chair in a little park next to the road, and as the gloom gathered around me I logged on for what was supposed to be a mid-morning status meeting on West Coast time. The other participants were a bit shocked to see I was sitting in the dark.

If you’re wondering what that serious looking wall is about, it’s around the Brompton Barracks!

When I rejoined the rest of the group in town, it was pretty dang late. We had gone a good ways from Canterbury, but not quite far enough to stay on schedule. Reluctantly I decided that we’d better take a train out of town the next day, so we could spend at least a little bit of time in London before shooting north to Edinburgh on another train.