Summer days in Royal Tunbridge Wells

Three years ago, in September 2015, a beautiful friendship began. Perched on top of a triple bunk bed at a hostel in Kraków, I was browsing through Instagram when my precious phone slipped through my hands. It landed on top of a German girl’s head, who I hadn’t yet said a word to. The drop was long and her head must’ve hurt real bad, because “I’m so sorry!” were the only words I ever got to say to her. She stormed off, out of the room and I never saw her again.

While that was an awful thing to accidently do, I’m actually really thankful that it happened. Because that incident was what got me talking to Bethann, who was sitting in a bunk below me, laughing at the awkward situation. We were both naughty and thought the situation was hilarious, and we bonded over that. The next day, Bethann and I went hiking to Morskie Oko, a beautiful lake near Kraków. And our friendship was formed.

Over the next four months, we met up in Denmark when Bethann came to visit me and my family, and then in Ireland, when I visited her for New Years. The last day I spent with her was New Year’s Day 2016, where we took a trip to Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Bethann is from Australia, I’m from Denmark, we met each other in Poland and saw each other last in Ireland. Our friendship is a result of this connected world that I feel so grateful to live in.

The last time we saw each other was two and a half years ago, but we knew we would see each other again, because when a friendship is meant to be, you just know it and you make it happen. So when I learned that Bethann was coming to Europe in the summer of 2018, I wasn’t going to let any money or border separate us. I was in Peru for the most part of her time in Europe, so the only chance to see her was when she went to England at the end of her trip to visit her aunt Rebekah.

Rebekah lives in a lovely house in Royal Tunbridge Wells, located 45 miles south of London. She didn’t mind me coming over for a few days to visit Bethann and I didn’t hesitate to book the tickets despite the expensive in-season prices. I just had to see Bethann, because who knows when the next chance will come!?

So, on July 10th, two days after coming back from Peru, I boarded a flight to London Gatwick and after a bit of a mess-up with a cancelled train, I finally arrived in Tunbridge Wells at 01.27 on July 11th, excited to see Bethann and give her a big hug!

The next two days were lovely. We spent time talking and catching up, exploring Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding countryside and spending time with her awesome aunt, Rebekah, Rebekah’s son Cortice and her adorable kittie, Dakota, who welcomed me into their home with open arms and vegan food (so yummy!!). It was lovely and much-needed to have a few days with no plans, where we could just walk and relax. Just the way I prefer it.

On our first full day, we (well, I) slept in and then we headed out into town to just walk and explore. Royal Tunbridge Wells is a bigger town than I imagined with over 60.000 inhabitants. For some reason, I had imagined a small village with maybe a few hundred people!

The unusual prefix “Royal” on the town name dates back to 1909, where the town was granted the title by King Edward VII due to its popularity among members of the royal family. Royal Tunbridge Wells is not the only “Royal” town in England; two others have been granted the same prefix to the title, Royal Leamington Spa and Royal Wootton Bassett. I found it quite interesting to learn, as I had no idea that towns could be granted such a title – but I definitely understand why Tunbridge Wells would be!

Bethann decided to take me to a place that she hadn’t even seen before – Toad Rock. Toad Rock is a remarkable sandstone formation, which resembles an enormous toad, situated amongst other large sandstone rocks. A beautiful piece of nature in the English countryside.

We spent a while there talking and catching up with each other’s lives and adventures.  Bethann and I are very different, but yet so similar. Bethann is nomadic. She lives her life on the road, going from place to place being exactly where she wants to be in that moment. A free life without plans and other people’s expectations.

I like to think of myself as semi-nomadic. I’m studying at a university, which means that I don’t have 100 percent freedom in choosing where I want to be all the time, but I did choose my course and since I’m now moving away from Copenhagen, I no longer have a home base. I’ve planned the next few years of my life because of my studies, but I’m more free location wise than most others who study, because I choose to be. Someday, I want to be fully nomadic like Bethann, but now is not the time for that as I love studying right now. Not in one place, but wherever I want to be studying (which is Greenland where I’m going in September). That’s why I call myself semi-nomadic.

Bethann is a free soul and does whatever she wants. She doesn’t care what other people think and that inspires me a lot. I think that’s why I’ve been so determined to keep in contact with her, even after 2,5 years of not seeing each other (also, she’s just awesome in every possible way).

After arriving back home from the walk, we settled down to watch some Studio Ghibli (which I did not know beforehand and now love!!) and spend some quality time with Rebekah, Cortice and Dakota.

I remember when I first met Bethann and talked to her about her travels in Europe, she told me about her time with her aunt in Royal Tunbridge Wells. She mentioned that they went berry-plucking in the countryside near the town and the images of that have stuck in my mind ever since. I love berries, I love the English countryside and I love spending time with people I love. It sounded like the perfect moment.

On my second and last full day in Royal Tunbridge Wells, we wanted to relive that moment that Bethann and Rebekah had experienced two and a half years earlier. Bethann wasn’t entirely sure how to find the berry place, so we just went behind Dunorlan Park where Rebekah had told us it would be and then started walking the way that felt right. It was nice for once to not be dependent of maps and just follow our intuition. And of course, great as we are, we came to a spot where there were loads of blackberry bushes. Unfortunately, July isn’t the right season for blackberries, but we were able to find a few ripe ones and they were delicious!

The weather was nice with a blue sky, so we just continued walking along this tiny country road, in through a forest and past small farm buildings until we’d had enough. That walk was my favourite part of the trip, because it was slow, unplanned and we just went wherever our heart desired, not where some tourist map told us to go. Also, we met almost nobody except from a lovely elderly lady who stopped the car to pick up plastic along the road! What an awesome lady.

We walked back to Dunorlan Park, the largest park in town, where we had decided to try the paddle boats on the lake. Bethann paid for us to go on a two-person paddle boat ride for half an hour, which was much harder than we thought, haha. We had to paddle the boat ourselves, which was like biking but with a much larger and heavier bike. It was a lot of fun though and we managed to go all around the lake.

Another beautiful day was over too soon and it was already time for me to leave the next morning. We spent the evening with Rebekah and Cortice as well as Dakota, who must be the cutest cat I’ve ever met. Dakota is a rescue cat who’s blind on one eye and has herpes on the other eye as she was rescued from a small apartment with 70 cats who all had herpes. I felt so sorry for her little soul, but she’s blessed to live with such a beautiful and caring family.

The next day, it was time to say our goodbyes as I headed back to Denmark to spend a day with my family in Jutland before I went back to work for a few weeks in the Land of Legends.

As an end note, I’d like to once again say sorry to the German girl whose head I injured with my phone in Kraków. I hope it has healed. And I want to say thank you too, because you gave me Bethann.

I have no idea when I’ll see Bethann again, but I just know that our paths will cross again, because a friendship like ours is meant to be. Hopefully I’ll see her before another 2,5 years are up, but who knows when and where the next time will be!?