Dover (South of England not South of Tassie...)

Another big day of driving and sight seeing lay ahead of us today so another bright and early start was in order. I don’t mind early starts, infact I’m more of an early bird than a night owl, but too many early starts in a row combined with not enough sleep the night before and my eyes feel like sandpaper the next day, and that may I say, is not a pleasant feeling! Today we packed our bags, filled the car up with petrol and head to Deal Castle. It was an impressive little castle sitting on a beach front; it looked quite sweet really so far as castles go… We held our little history walky talky things to our ears once more and trudged around the fort listening to all the history and explanations of which room was which and what took place in there. When we use these history walky talky things, they always remind me of mobile phones and it’s funny to look about the room and see everyone holding these things to their ear or struggling to hold them in the crook of their necks in a bid to hold them to their ear as they also try to take photos. To be honest I’ve given up on mine, I now figure it’s easier to walk around and take photos freely and ask Chris for the info later. The good thing about this too is that he puts it all into layman’s terms for me and only tells me the parts he knows I’ll actually be interested in, so it works well. I’m the photographer and he’s my info guide, roles we’re both happy with.

As sweet as Deal Castle was we didn’t spend long there, we had bigger castles to visit, so we head off to Dover, to see the white cliffs, the port to France and the castle it boasts, and my oh my, it is indeed a big castle! It’s perched high on a hill overlooking the English Channel and on a clear day you can see France sitting opposite. It’s all rather impressive really. The grounds for the castle are huge and steep (argh!) but what was truly impressive and rather funky, were the secret tunnels that lay underground. These tunnels were used in WW2 and were the base for operation Dynamo, an operation that saw the return of many soldiers from France. It was rather involved and full on, and very very well thought out. In these tunnels there were bunkers for soldiers, operation rooms, the living quarters for the captain of the army and a hospital. It was very very amazing. We then took a bit of a look around the castle itself. What we did see in the way of the castle was great, but there was quite a bit undergoing restoration so we didn’t get to see those parts. Still, it was great to see and the view from the castle out over the Channel was great. We then took a small drive to the water front where we took a little trundle along the ‘beach’ and grabbed an ice cream. It was a lovely day, so much to see and take in and once again we had a lovely time with Sue and Patrick. We really can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for us, you can only say thank you so many times but even then it doesn’t seem enough. We are very thankful and appreciative of them, and of Ann and Brian and the family, they’ve all helped to make our stay thus far so warm and interesting and so so enjoyable. We really do love them all!

written by

Chris and Emily on May 3, 2009 from Dover, United Kingdom

from the travel blog: Europe 2009

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so butiful....

written by hisen on May 13, 2009

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