About two in the afternoon
But now on the wings of that blown kiss thither she had flown back again , not to be frighted out for many a day . That night I slept at an inn at Tonbridge , a comfortable place where the host stared at the gold piece from the bag which I tendered in payment , and at first would not take what was due to him out of it , because it bore the head of some ancient king . However , in the end a merchant of Tonbridge who came in for his morning ale showed him that it was good , so that trouble passed . About two in the afternoon I came to Southwark , a town that to me seemed as big as Hastings before it was burned , where was a fine inn called the Tabard at which I stopped to bait my horses and to take a bite and drink of ale . Then I rode on over the great Thames where floated a multitude of ships and boats , crossing it by London Bridge , a work so wonderful that I marvelled that it could be made by the hand of man , and so broad that it had shops on either side of the roadway , in which were sold all sorts of merchandise . Thence I inquired my way to Cheapside , and came there at last thrusting a path through a roaring multitude of people , or so it seemed to me who never before had seen so many men and women gathered together , all going on their way and , it would appear , ignorant of each other . Here I found a long and crowded thoroughfare with gabled houses on either side in which all kinds of trades were carried on .