September 9. Rest day at The Friars in Aylesford. And meeting up with our 2022 Camino Angels!

Pepper just wanted someone to play with. I felt obliged to do so! How could anyone resist that face?!?

Waiting for the taxi – guilt-free. As we had not taken a break since August 31st, we decided to taxi 20 minutes to our next destination and have a rest day.

The Friars. Pilgrim accommodations. There is a small community of Carmelite Friars at this priory (we never saw any though). They were kicked out by mean old King Henry the 8th in the 1500s (he dissolved all of the contents and monasteries) but the the Carmelites were able to return 400 years (!!!) later in 1949. It is now a most beautiful monastery with lovely grounds (lots of weddings here), a popular tea café and restaurant, a duck pond and of course the religious and spiritual aspects.

These were strangely polite and patient Canada geese, not like the aggressive cobra chickens back home. Just gave me puppy dog eyes, hoping for more seed. The prior sells duck food for 50 pence. I won’t tell you how much I bought.

Sadly, many of the geese had “Angel wings”, a deformity caused by people feeding them bread. The priory sells proper duck feed (seeds, cracked corn, etc) and warns people about bread poisoning. Apparently the geese and swans and moorhens are permanent residents. We also saw lots of bunnies.

The geese are not fed but the Monastery but the receptionist assured me they have so many people feeding them that it’s not an issue.

Our view. Ignore the drying pilgrim socks.

Apparently thatched roofs are still a thing and a lot of young people are learning the craft.

There are Carmelite communities scattered through Canada.

The entrance to our rooms.

The monastery has a pottery workshop. It was like bringing me to a Christmas store and telling me I could nothing. The artwork was exquisite.

Scott brought a few games along and I am forced to play with him. I have to let him win or he would cry…or throw a temper tantrum. Gee, I hope he never reads this!

Hundreds of small mushrooms growing around the tree stump.

The Peace Garden had all these plaques with “PEACE” written in every language they could think of, including many of the North African First Nations, such as Cree and MicMac.

Shortcrust pie – ham chicken and leek. Yum!

Judith and Roy. ❤️ They saved us in 2022 and we were delighted to meet up with them again. And rode to our rescue again by offering to transport our luggage tomorrow.