In Canterbury: a trip to the LBS

June 16, 2022

We’re staying in Millers Arms, a pub with rooms on the Stour River, just a few blocks from the cathedral. It gets its name from the former mill that stood near here. From our second story garret we can hear the constant rush of water through the millrace right beneath our open window. We noted with amusement the reviews of this place on Booking, seeing that they were generally favorable except for three cranks who complained of the incessant noise of the water that they could only shut out by closing the window. “Won’t someone shut off that damn water machine?”, I imagine them thinking. We found it very soothing though and kept the window open.

And in the morning we waken to the light streaming in through the east window, promising another beautiful day ahead.

I’m awake early, around six, and breakfast isn’t on until eight. I take my iPad downstairs thinking I’d sit there and not disturb Rachael and maybe score an early cup of coffee, but it’s not to be. The cleaning crew is at work and kicks me out. So instead I spend the next hour sitting by the millrace, doing my best to filter out the maddening rush of water beneath my feet, distracting myself with the occasional birdlife that happens by. Not a bad start to the day.

Nice to have company while I wait for coffee.

Not long before eight I hear my name above the maddening roar and look up to see Rachael looking out the window of our garret instructing me to head toward the breakfast table. So I do, and am presented with this offering:

Satisfactory as far as it goes, but where’s the blood pudding?

At ten we’re off on the main errand of the day, biking a few blocks to Kent Cycles for our tuneup appointments. We booked ourselves a tuneup apiece several weeks ago, thinking that it would be the right time for some routine maintenance. And now that we’re here, we find we were right. Both bikes could use some competent attention.

Doing our bit for the local economy, helping those LBS’s stay in business.

The appointment doesn’t go exactly as planned though. We each booked for a three hour slot for our tuneup, from 10 until 1; but there’s only one mechanic on duty so they’ll be single threaded. I’m hoping for a short afternoon ride while Rachael takes a hike, so I ask for them to take mine first and call or email us when it’s done. We then set off on our own - I spend the morning at Saint Augustine’s Abbey and the cathedral, and Rachael heads to the store with the plan to take her walk later.

When I return to our room at one there’s still been no word from Kent Cycles so I walk over to check on the status in case they’ve had trouble reaching us. The news isn’t as we’d expected though. My bike is still on the rack and won’t be ready until tomorrow afternoon. Its getting new brake cables, but they don’t have the right length in stock and have ordered them for delivery tomorrow afternoon. Also I’m getting a new front disc rotor, since mine has a slight crease in it they can’t straighten. The mechanic acknowledges he’s never seen bikes quite like ours, which makes me a little anxious. I hope we’ve brought them to the right place.

So this is a wrinkle. There’s some attractive cycling south of here in the Kent Downs that we wanted to explore, but now with the bikes down both today and tomorrow that’s out. Rachael takes off for her walk while I hang out downstairs for the rest of the afternoon, and then we walk over to Cafe de Soleil, a pleasant place with outdoor tables beside the Stour.

Our table at Cafe de Soleil. It’s an excellent meal that deserved the food photos we forgot to take, but it was also delicious just sitting here in the shade watching the river run by,

Over dinner we talk over the situation, consider our options, and hatch a new plan. We head back to the room after a fine meal to test its feasibility, find that it is achievable, and lock in some changes: Canterbury is a great place, so we’re going to stay here an additional two days and reclaim them from the planned two stay in Colchester that we’ll just scrap. We shift/cancel/change some upcoming bookings, and we’re all set.

Some pics from around town and Rachael’s walk. We’ll post galleries from the religious monuments later when we get to more reliable WiFi.