In closing this desultory record of a summer's motoring in Britain, I
can easily see that a great deal was missed, much of which might have
been included with little or no loss of time had we been well enough
informed in advance. There were cases where we actually passed through
places of real interest only to learn later that we had overlooked
something that might well have engaged our attention. There were other
points, readily accessible from our route, which we omitted because
previously visited by rail; and though many of these places we should
have been glad to see again, our limited time forbade. In order to get
all that should be gotten out of a five-thousand-mile tour by motor car,
one would have to be familiar indeed with England's history and
traditions, as well as conversant with her literature. There is little
opportunity for studying hand-books as one goes along. A few weeks of
preparation, of well selected reading and the study of road-books and
maps would make such a tour doubly valuable in saving time and in an
intelligent understanding of the country and the places worth seeing.
What one should have done he will know far better after the trip is
over, and the main excuse for this modest record is that it may supply
in popular form some data from the experience of one who has been over
part of the ground, while the superb illustrations of the volume will
give a far better idea of what awaits the tourist than the mere written
words.
Among the places in which our time was too short is Canterbury. Another
day would have given us a chance to see more of that ancient town, and a
side trip of thirty miles would have taken us to Sandwich, Margate and
Reculvers. We had expected to come a second time to Canterbury and to
visit these three points then, but were unable to carry out our plan.
Sandwich was at one time an important seaport, but lost its position
from the same cause that affected so many of the south coast towns--the
receding of the sea. It contains many of the richest bits of mediaeval
architecture in England, and a few hours in its quaint streets would
have been well repaid. Reculvers, or ancient Regulbium, was a Roman city
that was destroyed by the encroachments of the sea. Here is one of the
oldest and strangest of the ruined churches in England, now standing on
the verge of the ocean, which still continues to advance with a prospect
of ultimately wiping out the little village.
[Illustration: A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND.