No, the surprise isn’t that I’m finally getting around to contributing something here again, though that’s surprising enough.  Here we’ve been in England over a week now and I haven’t posted anything about it.  And I haven’t even expressed my thanks to Greg for curating the challenge for the last year, or for Rich for picking up the mantle.  Disgusting.

To catch you up just a little bit, we arrived in Dover a week ago and spent two nights there, with our favorite experience being a spectacular hike along the famous White Cliffs.  From there we moved on to Canterbury for five nights and then biked to Rochester for a night and are now in Maldon, a pretty riverside town we like quite a bit and are happy to have booked a second night for.  After this we’ll spend the next three weeks heading north up the east side of England before turning westward.

Oh, yes – the surprise.  We were in Maldon last night enjoying a riverside fish dinner when a troop of Morris Dancers gradually assembled and then performed on the waterfront for the next half hour or so.  I was perplexed by why they were performing on a quiet Tuesday night with almost no spectators on the scene, but then Rachael overheard the explanation – it’s a solstice celebration!  I’d forgotten all about solstice.

A few favorite pics from our first week in England: