25 July Dover

Today has been a busy day so I'm taking the opportunity whilst I am on the slow, very cold, train to Brighton to start tonight's blog on my tablet and hopefully I'll be able to transfer it to my laptop when at home without any troubles. Why was the day long? Well, that would be because we wanted to spend as much time as possible in Dover and that meant early trains and late returns. To get to Dover from Littlehampton requires at least 2 changes as they do not inhabit the same section/area, with Dover being southeast and Littlehampton being southern. This meant we had to travel to Brighton and then take a train that connects into the southeast network, in this case to Ashford International and then a connector to Dover. It really wasn't that bad -better than having to drive when you are tired, plus the slow train to Brighton means part of my blog post is done!

For anyone who has seen Dover you know that yit can be spectacular (depending on how you get there of course), but in this case it was coming out of a small tunnel on the train to have the English Channel 'right there' that did it for the boys- the castle didn't get a look in. They were marginally more interested in the white cliffs.

 

View of the channel from the train window

The street that goes to the castle - actually for pedestrians there is a ramp and about 100 stairs hidden in the greenery you can see on the side of the hill.

First Bridge into the castle area, over a very steep and long drop.

I tried to explains the significance of these cliffs to people, with the ferry home from the continent etc... but as I have no voice today it was a very interesting version of "White cliffs of Dover" and for talking in general. We walked from the station down to the information centre - we missed the info centre and ended up in the library - but that was ok they gave us a map of the town and pointed us in the direction of the road to the castle.

Next came THE HILL. I'm rather impressed. Below is a picture showing the castle on the hill with the beachfront area. We have in the space of one day walked up the hill and through to the roof of the castle keep (we did cheat a bit and get the land train within the castle grounds). We went to the exhibition about the planning for the evacuation of Dunkirk, into the keep, the surrounding sections that had displays on the history of the castle and the Princess of Wales regiment and the old Anglo-Saxon church. Unfortunately the lines for the tours into the old wartime tunnels and how they were used were too long and we needed to leave in order to get onto the last boat trip that would take us into the harbour to see the cliffs from the water.

 

One of the hills within the castle grounds - take a closer look at how the grass gets mown!

Dressing up in 1940s RAMC jacket - verdict - "it's stratchy"

Colours of The Queen's Regiment. It was amalgamated with the The Royal Hampshire Regiment to form The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment; the most senior English line infantry regiment

Other half of the Queens Regiment Colours. The PWRR has been awarded 57 Victoria Crosses - the most decorated Regiment (counted from both parent units)

Jousting equipment

Swords were popular with the companions

The flag flying from the top of the keep roof.

Views from the top of the keep.

Back at school

Chapel

The old Roman lighthouse. This structure predates the castle, as this cliff  has always been used by those that lived in the area. 

Inside the Anglo-Saxon Church.

We walked back down the hill, found the information centre this time and down onto the esplanade. We purchased our tickets for a boat ride in the Dover port area and had drinks/ ice blocks whilst waiting for departure. Meanwhile a word about today's weather..... We woke to find that it had rained overnight (damn! Missed it!) and set off to the station with 'overcast looking like rain' weather with the boys complaining that they were cold (ok, so plenty of locals had light jackets on). By the time we got to Dover we had outrun the clouds and had nice, partly cloudy, pleasant, clear weather - until the place that I paused..... At around this time clouds rolled in and we got a light shower of rain while we were on the boat trip which made the temperature drop even further out on the water in the wind (light) and rain. By the time we docked again the sun had reappeared. It was like being in Melbourne! Note: we have just seen fog/mist on one of the hills we have passed on the train.

One half of the Esplanade

The other half of the Esplanade

The view from 'our bench'

clock tower near the sightseeing boat harbour area

The harbour tugs - "those are really big tyres, what truck do they go on?" - Jacob

Old Customs House

Our tour was held up as we waited this cruise liner to move off its mooring - it is half way through its turn - to start it was facing to the right moored to the jetty. Using her motors she basically swung her tail off the wharf and around 180 so she sailed off to the left

The cliffs

 The keep is on the fair left. The buildings on this part of the Esplanade are 4 storeys tall.

Entrance to the old war time tunnels. This is a viewing platform that we had stood upon earlier in the day.

Captain Ethan got to steer the boat for awhile

Captain Jacob got to steer for the longest time as he was the last one (the others all rushed in front of him) so no one else was waiting!

The lifeboat at Dover

I guess if you live on your boat and you want someone to guard it a floating lookalike duck will work I suppose!!! Maybe this is where the spare key is hidden?! ;)

Taken from the train on the way home

Note: Friday has been a day of 'recovery' with some light shopping at the weekly markets ahead of a couple of busy upcoming days.