April 10th. Many tourists take a day tour to the west, for example, Cotswolds, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, Stonehenge or Oxford. So, I wanted to go east. Today, I am to take a day tour to Canterbury, Leeds Castle and Dover which I've made a reservation before leaving Japan.
The bus terminal of Golden Tours was just next to Victoria Station. It took 15 minutes from my hotel on foot. Since I've checked it on the map, I found it easily.
Victoria is the one of the busiest terminals, National Rail, London Underground, and the Coach Station etc.
The bus was gorgeous with on board free
wi-fi and toilet. The tour participants were about 20 people, their nationality were evenly various. It was really an international bus tour. I was the only oriental person.
Before leaving, a gentleman in casual but neat clothes talked with all participants one by one with a smile. I thought he was a
guide or a manager of the tour company, but he was the driver of the bus. The guide who was an elderly man also talked with all participants one by one in English, Spanish or French. He talked to me in Japanese only a little. Both the guide and the driver were very friendly.
It took some time to go through the center of London due to a traffic jam, but after leaving London, the landscape changed to a beautiful country view. It was around noon when we arrived at Leeds Castle. Leeds Castle was not
big but a beautiful castle, just like a treasure surrounded by greenery.
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| Leeds Castle |
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| Leeds Castle |
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| Leeds Castle |
We arrived at Canterbury at around 1:30 p.m. The cathedral was a little distant from the parking lot of the tour bus. On the way to the cathedral, we had lunch at a pub.
We were to get together at the entrance of the cathedral after seeing inside, I thought. I should have seen together with the tour members. While I saw or took pictures in the cathedral, other members were gone and I became alone. I went to the entrance on time, but nobody came. I went out to the town. Nobody was there. The time we were to meet had come. I tried to go to the parking lot, but I didn't know the way. I returned to the square in front of the cathedral. At that time, a policeman approached me. I asked him, "I lost my way to the parking lot of our tour bus. Could you tell me the way to the parking lot?" "What is the tour bus?" "Golden Tours." He told the way, but I couldn't understand. I showed the google map on my tablet. He pointed out the place on the map. "Thank you so much." The departure time of the bus had already passed. I went in a haste with being led by google map and a GPS. When I arrived at the parking lot, the bus was going to the gate. I ran toward the bus waving my hand. The driver found me and the bus stopped and opened the door. "Sorry, I completely lost my way. Really sorry." When I got on the bus, some members welcomed me with a clapping hands.
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| Canterbury |
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| Canterbury |
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| Canterbury |
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| Canteerbury |
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| Canterbury |
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| Canterbury |
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| Canterbury |
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| Canterbury |
In Dover, we viewed Dover Castle and White Cliffs from a distance
at the beach.
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| Dover |
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| Dover |
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| Dover |
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| National Maritime Museum |
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| The Royal Naval College |
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| The Thames Cruising |
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| The Thames Cruising |
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| The Thames Cruising |
And then, we returned to London, arrived at Greenwich at 6:00 p.m. I didn't expect the Thames cruising, but I was able to enjoy the cruising and the landscape from the Thames because it was a long way from Greenwich to Embankment Pier.
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