Day 44 Whipped, Washed and Shined!

Today’s outing started out with sun slightly shining, horrendous wind whipping us about as we set off to see the White Cliffs of Dover up the road from where we stayed... We had planned to walk to the Lighthouse but the wind was beating us around so much it was very difficult to walk and sometimes it honestly felt like I was going to be lifted off the ground... so no going to close to the cliffs for am sure the wind would have pushed us off.... no kidding it was unreal... when we did get back to the car, I honestly felt like someone had beaten me up...

The views along the coast we so interesting it’s a shame it was so windy we could have enjoyed them much more.... the further we headed in the coastal path the further away the Light House got! If we had taken the upper path we would have made it quickly but we wanted to see the cliffs hence why the bottom path....

The wind was literally laying the grass flat, you can see why the trees have a permanent growth with an inland slant.... watching all the ferries coming and going from France to Dover Harbour was interesting, so many and so quick a turn around time... they are all pretty big, but the line up,of big trucks yesterday indicated just how much is taken back and forth from one country to the next here.... so interesting.... mind you I would hate to be on the water today it’s so rough....

After getting as far as the accomodation and control centre for the gun enplacements underground bunker we decided the wind had whipped us enough and the Light House could wait until later... But looking at the sky I did say to John I felt later it would be raining... my feelings were right....

So off we set towards Dover Castle, but first turn we missed the car park turn and ended up in Dover itself... Many of the buildings have a real French feel.... many look very, very old, narrow streets and none are straight...that does seem to be everywhere.... in fact when we stayed with our friends in Scotland they were fascinated by our Satellite pics of Bill how everything is square and neat... funny that’s just how most towns and cities in Australia, but it would seem not so in the UK at all.....

The other bit of trivia was when we got lost yesterday we met a lady walking her dog, she had never heard of where we were looking for, but suggested we phone them [which we would have] but she did inform us that when you do use the phone here it thinks it’s in France! Funny we thought....

Anyway back to Dover after our little drive around the Village of Dover we headed back up the hill to the castle what a climb back up the winding road.... but as we started to head up the rain drops started... Not too bad just a sprinkle!

The cost for this one is very big the most we have paid anywhere, but it does include the underground hospital and war tunnels... so after Johns own heart anything to do with WW11 off we set and the wind hit us straight up, if it could it was getting much more furious and our whipping hadn’t stopped... first up a cuppa as it was so cold just to warm up firstly... Then off to the War tunnel tour... it was to take us quite deep underground I thought it would be warm under there but nope it wasn’t at all....

Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. It is the largest castle in England. This site may have been fortified with earthworks in the Iron Age or earlier, before the Romans invaded in AD43. This is suggested on the basis of the unusual pattern of the earthworks which does not seem to be a perfect fit for the medieval castle. Excavations have provided evidence of Iron Age occupation within the locality of the castle, but it is not certain whether this is associated with the hillfort. There have been excavations on the mound on which the church and Roman Pharos are situated. It has been discovered that it was from the Bronze Age. With Dover becoming a garrison town, there was a need for barracks and storerooms for the additional troops and their equipment. The solution adopted by Twiss and the Royal Engineers was to create a complex of barracks tunnels about 15 metres below the cliff top and the first troops were accommodated in 1803. At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the tunnels housed more than 2,000 men and to date are the only underground barracks ever built in Britain. The windmill on the Mill Tower was demolished during the Anglo-American War of the orders of the Ordnance Board. It was said that the sale of materials from the demolished mill did not cover the cost of the demolition. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the tunnels were partly converted and used by the Coast Blockade Service to combat smuggling. This was a short-term endeavour though, and in 1827 the headquarters were moved closer to shore. The tunnels then remained abandoned for more than a century. Secret wartime tunnels The Second World War Coastal Artillery Operations Room in the Secret Wartime Tunnels....The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 saw the tunnels converted first into an air-raid shelter and then later into a military command centre and underground hospital. In May 1940, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey directed the evacuation of French and British soldiers from Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo, from his headquarters in the cliff tunnels. A military telephone exchange was installed in 1941 and served the underground headquarters. The switchboards were constantly in use and had to have a new tunnel created alongside it to house the batteries and chargers necessary to keep them functioning. The navy used the exchange to enable direct communication with vessels, as well as using it to direct air-sea rescue craft to pick up pilots shot down in the Straits of Dover. Later the tunnels were to be used as a shelter for the Regional Seats of Government in the event of a nuclear attack. This plan was abandoned for various reasons, including the realisation that the chalk of the cliffs would not provide significant protection from radiation, and because of the inconvenient form of the tunnels and their generally poor condition. Tunnel levels are denoted as A - Annexe, B - Bastion, C - Casemate, D - DUMPY and E - Esplanade. Annexe and Casemate levels are open to the public, Bastion is 'lost' but investigations continue to gain access, DUMPY (converted from Second World War use to serve as a Regional Seat of Government in event of an atomic war) is closed, as is Esplanade (last used as an air raid shelter in the Second World War). The Annexe level was excavated in 1941 to serve as a medical dressing station for wounded soldiers. It contained two operating theatres and had basic accommodation for patients. Soldiers would be sent for emergency treatment in the tunnels and then transferred to inland hospitals. Within the Annexe level were dormitories, kitchens and mess rooms. If they were being attacked they would have to move quickly as the enemies were just nine minutes away from Dover by plane. There are over three miles of these Tunnels going deep down into the chalky cliffs, some still undiscovered. There are tunnels that are far too dangerous to walk down. The site also contained one of Dover's two 80-foot (24 m) Roman lighthouses (or Pharoses), one of which still survives, whilst the remains of the other are located on the opposing Western Heights, across the town of Dover. On the site is a classic montrol (campsite) where the Normans landed after their victorious conquest.

The whole hour for the Army Headquarters tunnel was fascinating, as was the Hospital one once we got to do it... there was a break between the tours and yep the rains had well and truly started along with the winds being whipped and washed wasn’t our idea of fun, so we hide in the coffee shop again until the 2nd tour commenced...

Then off in the wind and rain to the Castle.. but before that the military museum in one of the side buildings.....
Once we had done this off to the castle..we soon discovered where everyone else were also hiding in the Castle... but mind you it was very cold and windy even I here with all the steps becoming funnels for the wind to find every room... only one room had a fire going and I spotted an elderly lady asleep on a sit next to it... I didn’t blame her I would too if I could... plus the other bonus if you could call it that were 2 lots about 50 French high school students touring throughout the castle as well.... so with us trying our best to stay a room in front of them became a real challenge......

Off to the roof top to see the sights but the wind chased us away quickly just too cold up there... while wandering from floor to floor we found the throne room, and suddenly King John was announced... Only part missing was the crown... but he did get to sit on the Royal Throne without all the teenagers in the room...

There are like all the castles we have been in, nooks and crannies here there and everywhere... about 5 levels with big rooms and not so big rooms with the most massive thick walls between them... We did ask how we could do the medieval tunnel tour but sadly due to the rain on Monday and today they were closed with water in them... that was sad as we wanted to go into them as well especially since we had done the other underground tours..... so as we were unable to do the tour we came out of the Castle into thick thick fog... it looked unreal and surreal for the middle afternoon as it was by now... but not to be beaten we went to the Roman Lighthouse and St Mary-in-Castro church... The present day church was built in 1858 after it fell into disrepair it but from 1555 to 1557 the church was walled up as it was felt unsafe due to lack of repairs, though nineteen years later recommendations were made to repair the chancel in stone, glaze (or reglaze) the windows and provide seats for men to hear divine service. It took another six years, but in 1582 fourteen small chairs were at last bought. Public worship then lasted to 1690, though burials of troops from the garrison in the surrounding churchyard continued for some time after that. There are records of a church being built 'within the castle' (Latin 'in castra') by Eadbald of Kent in the 630s. However, it is unclear whether this means within the Saxon burgh (usually dated to later than 630) on the Eastern Heights, or within the ruins of old Roman fortifications in the valley. The large, late-Saxon cemetery around the present church does suggest the existence of a c.600 church, but not definitively. The earliest records are of the Romans who built forts here in c. AD130 and c. AD270, and the town has fortifications from many eras since. The Romans also built two pharoses, possibly c. AD130, on the Eastern and Western Heights above the gap in the cliffs. St Mary in Castro is on the Eastern Heights, as is the Roman Pharoses or Lighthouse as it’s known... The remaining ruin was turned into a storehouse and cooperage in 1780, but a further collapse in 1801 led to its becoming a coal store by 1808, and thus it remained until 1860. That year began the first of two Victorian restorations. The first lasted until 1862 and was carried out by George Gilbert Scott, and the second restoration for only a year in 1888, by William Butterfield. Butterfield's restoration completed the tower and added mosaic work in the nave and a vestry, but was generally held to be less sympathetic than the first by Scott.

Our time had come to an end, we were cold and miserable but had to get some groceries even though tomorrow we were heading to France via the Chunnel..... So off to Tesco for fuel and food, we had started to know all the cheap fuel stops... ASDA, Tesco, Morrison’s and Sainbury’s, they are also the supermarkets as well.... being in The UK this long we were starting to get our head around the way things are done.. Like no plastic bags..l but you can buy recycled heavy duty plastic bags that you takes it’s you each time or if you ask for a bag you get charged for it... so we always have a bag on hand in case... our plan was to look around more but with the weather now starting to clear, but it is still very cold and windy..
So just before heading home we drove to St Margaret’s Bay to see the sights there, so glad we did it was an interesting bay! You could see where the huge waves had been crashing over the barriers onto the promenade... there was heaps of small to medium sized stones scattered all over the path. John happened to find a number of holes in the Chalk cliff walls, many have been bricked up now sadly so you couldn’t see how far they really must have gone into the inner parts of the cliff walls... while there we actually witnessed a guy get into the water with his surf board and go out to sea... it was still pretty rough, windy and cold but that didn’t deter him at all... crazy man I am sure his blood must iced up already so he didn’t feel how cold it was even with a wet suit on you wouldn’t get me into that water...

The mystery of the area was the lovely home at the end of the bay that looked unreal, but in all honesty it would get pounded by the sea every time there are huge waves... how it survives has got us best..
Then to top it off there right on the main green lawn was a tent all set up... it didn’t say you could camp there, but I could only imagine the little tent being pounded by the horrendous wind earlier today, brave soul that set that ten up or stupid... w can work out which as we couldn’t see anyone about...
Maybe they had died and we didn’t even check out the tent....
Ohh well a surprise for someone.....the houses on the cliffs above the bay were truly lovely, very old in style and very grand, guessing it would cost a pretty penny to live up there....

Well all good things come to an end and Praise God the Sun is trying to come out... you can see it on the. Ferries coming across the channel, but above us is still the fog cloud slowly lifting... unreal to actually see it going, by the time we go back to our room, there was the sun out in all its glory, but it was still very cold...

Well that’s the end of our UK trip for now, we have to come back to the UK at some stage it was between the Crete adventure and when we fly out, so we will return maybe for not as long as planned, we are rethinking how we do the rest of this trip with the 2 weeks in Bavaria in 2 days time, we will look at our plan and see what will work... and what won’t.

On a sad note we didn’t get back to the Lighthouse the weather was just too unstable when we had planned on going, and by the time the sun came out it was too late..

We did get to eat again at the hotel restaurant 2 nights in a row how lucky am I, both nights the food was really lovely.. for an out of way spot they sure can do it very well with the food on offer...

Psss, has can thank Wikipedia for most of my background info on each place visited I do listen but to put it all in from memory totally I would be an unreal mind... hence Wiki’s help...
I use them because it is mainly people input and I pay a little subscription to make sure they can do what they are doing giving great info so we can know stuff...Read more