Day three meant leaving London and heading to Dover. Time to start our 9 day whirlwind driving odyssey!
We rode a lovely high speed train out of London, and here it is:
Dover is a seaside town, half tourist resort and half stopover on the way to Paris (the channel tunnel starts near here). It has three major claims to fame: a massive port, a historically important castle and the very famous ‘white cliffs’.
That’s the beach above. A classic ‘pebble beach’. A seawall breakwater creates a waveless lagoon in which swimmers practice to swim the English Channel. Our first activity was a boat tour to see the White Cliffs from the harbour:
The cliffs are white due to chalk content, and run for miles. They are quite impressive (relatively) up close. Here’s a better shot, and please pay attention to the top:
That’s a castle up there, and it was our second attraction of the day.
After lunch, of course:
Yep, that’s a bucket of cockles, whelks, prawns, mussels and fake crab.
The castle is up on the cliff overlooking Dover, and was built in 1197. It is enormous and contains such attractions as an authentic Roman lighthouse (from back when the Romans occupied England) and a Saxon church. During the Napoleonic years tunnels were carved deep into the cliffsides, and during WW2 the tunnels were expanded and outfitted to be used as a base of operations. From these very tunnels – which we toured – the Dunkirk evacuation was masterminded.
We explored the old castle keep as well, which was tall and mazelike and shows that the architecture of all those RPGs I’ve been playing for most of my life isn’t too far off reality:
And here is our breakfast as the Dover B&B (called the Restover). It was extremely comfortable and far better than our London hotel…
