Week at Wychurst

Every since we left Hastings last year, Katya and I set our sights on attending the Detling Military Odyssey. I had a day’s turn around, getting off the plane from the Yukon to getting on a plane to the UK. When you spend a year building up and planning for and anticipating something, it’s really surreal and exciting when it finally happens - of course, the 10-hour flight dissipates the excitement just a tad. I managed to watch an entire season of Westworld since I can never sleep on planes. 

We made our trek from Gatwick, complete with one replacement bus service, to Sturry, where Malcolm picked us up to take us to Wychurst. Driving through the gates and seeing the long hall again was amazing. Katya had never been there before so I got to give her the quick 5-minute tour of the site, including such memorable places as ‘the path where Steve rugby tackled me into the gravel’ and ‘the beautiful longhall doors that everyone takes a photo of.’ Since it was Tuesday, Øst Centingas had their weekly training on site, so one by one I got to see and hug the friends I’ve missed since I left. Then Rob came. It was great to see Rob again of course, but it also helped that he was bringing me my brand new Heron Armoury Sword. I was swinging around my gift to me and Katya just looked over and said, “you’re going to be insufferable.” My grin was an emphatic ‘yes’. 

Once everyone was there, practice started. Gate fights, circle fights, team fights, all the fighting you could want. I earned the first few dings in my new blade. Most of the fighting crew was ØC but a lot of other Regia groups were represented there as well since there was a work week going on at Wychurst and people were living on site. Before practice ended, Katya and I got to unveil the new ØC Viking flag, which we’d been working on for the last few months; a white ‘wolf’ on a field of green, based on the Yelling runestone. The animal’s tongue is sticking out so he looks a bit derpy, but I’m not going to argue with authenticity. As is tradition, we proceeded to the post-practice pub, the Punch, to partake in drinks, food, and conversation. Rob and I had a nerding-out conversation about my upcoming honours thesis, which Katya and others were more than happy to leave us to.  We chatted, catching up with everyone, and then went to Matt’s house for the evening. After a solid 34 hours awake, a real bed felt like heaven. 

The next morning we played ‘reenactment car Tetris’ as Matt managed to get all his stuff and our stuff into his car and drove us back up to Wychurst. Katya, Tom, Malcolm and I headed into Canterbury for the day which felt a bit like coming home. We walked past the Marlow theatre (still ugly, but at least familiar), down the high street, past the Cathedral gates, along the city walls, West Gate, over the river, every place triggering memories from my year abroad. 
 

We went for cream tea at an adorable tea house called The Moat, an old medieval house-turned-shop with the slightly crooked exposed wood that makes England so special. When we were seated I asked Malcolm what his opinion was on the pronunciation of the word ‘scone’ since it always seemed split whether people said it “sk-own” or “sk-on.” He explained that before you eat it, it is “sk-own” and then after you eat it, it's-kon. That resulted in a loud “twack” as Tom gave him a very quick and well-deserved smack on the head with a menu, earning us yet another disapproving glance from the elderly couple in the corner. Katya also settled the ‘jam or clotted cream on first’ debate by just putting one on each side and then putting it together, true Canadian diplomacy in action. We took a quick drive up to university so Katya could get a feel for it since she's thinking about applying for a masters programs there. The view from the hill was slightly marred (not just by the Marlow theatre) but also by the fact that Canterbury cathedral is largely covered in scaffolding and white sheets while they restore it. Still a beautiful view. 

We got back to Wychurst, had dinner in the scout hall, and then settled around the campfire with everyone. Kyle, true to form, had brought over some Canadian Maple whiskey which was greatly enjoyed by everyone. Katya’s going to roll her eyes when I ask her to edit this but I’m proud of this pun so I’m telling it. One of the girls who had been working on a few projects during the craft week had carved a very small mallet out of a log, easily mistaken for a piece of firewood, and people around the fire were mocking it, calling it a “mallet-ette.” I commented that if you’d hit someone on the head with it, then they’d have a “Mal-à-tête.” French pun for the win! Fortunately, Tom didn’t have a menu in hand for that one. The flames illuminated the faces of those around the fire, and slowly the gathering began to disperse as people went to bed. My version of jet-lag makes me invincible to sleep, compounded with my usual ability to have endless conversations, so I was one of the last ones around the fire. The smoke curled into the rafters and the embers kept the darkness at bay as we listened to the soft breathing of those already asleep before heading off ourselves. 

The next day Rob came by to pick us up and bring us back to Dover. Dover castle had been one of my first stops when I came here on my exchange year, and had actually been the place where I first ran into Rob when he worked as a tour guide there. Katya and I had our game for the day - find someone who worked at the castle that Rob didn’t know since it seemed like everyone with a name tag started a conversation with him. In the end there were about 4 staff members who were new enough that they didn’t know him. Having your own personal guide around the place is brilliant, I remembered some of the details from last time, but now we got the full tour. We also had a bit more time so along with the keep we got to see the Medieval tunnels, the Roman lighthouse, and the Anglo-Saxon church. We also covered most of the grounds and fortifications around it that aren’t as much of a tourist draw. It was extremely windy on top of the keep. Unbound, my and Katya's hair was going wild and Rob’s hair and beard made him look like he was in the L’oreal commercial. Well worth it. The air was thick with the salt sea air and Katya kept looking longingly out to the ocean. After we’d covered every inch of the castle we headed to the white cliffs of Dover (not Brighton). Last time I was here with Steven before our continental travels, we didn’t make it all the way to the lighthouse at the end but we managed this time. We stopped off for some amazing fish and chips in Dover before heading back to Wychurst and another evening around the fire. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of evenings like that.

The next morning Matt was coming to collect the Canadians for Wychurst and bring us all to Detling. So while we waited we took a few photos in kit around the longhall. 

ps. Kyle took the campfire image and I stole the Westgate group selfie from Katya since my camera is a bit dificult to manage for those.