History, Castle, Aviation History, Romans and more..

9/20/2019

Last evening we did a walkabout here in Dover. As we wandered about we ended up on the promenade by the waterfront. Yes things have changed a bit since our last visit. We then found the 1£ store and got some sundries we ran low on and stopped at the M&S for breakfast pastries. 

Back at the room we settled in and did some organization. Soon it was 2100 and we headed down to the cellar to listen to some music. There was a great duo playing a great variety of songs and it was fun to chat with the locals as we enjoyed a pint or two.  We learned of the status of the Tour de France and a bit more about the walking in the area. 

One thing I learned is there is a serious group of musicians who play the area’s pubs. There is also a local guitar builder in Canterbury which I understand is rather well respected. 

Simply put it was a fun evening, 

We were up and prepared for the day as we enjoyed our coffee and pastry.  The skies are grey and it is raining so will visit the Castle and other inside venues today. 

We started out with rain coats on and walked up the hill to the Dover Castle. We were early and the ticket booth was not open so we had about a 15 min wait to purchase our tickets. We then walked up to the Castle grounds via the Cannon Gate. 

First we came to the War Tunnels. There are two open at this time the first one we visited is based upon the story of Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk.  Due to copy write laws there are no photos allowed. 

The second tunnel we visited was The Underground Hospital. Here you learn about the hospital annex as the story of a pilot  who arrives and is treated for his injuries. 

Both of these are extremely well presented and should not be missed. My suggestion is to start your Castle tours here as the queues to get long.   

Probably the main highlight or draw to the Dover Castle is the Great Tower. Here one finds the story of Henry II presented in interesting displays and one might find costumed interpreters bringing the Tower to life. 

Roman Lighthouse, interestingly there was also one on the other side of Dover 

St Mary-In - Castro

Fun Interpreters 

Also, while we were there, the WWI fire command post we found period dressed interpreters explaining the workings of the artillery piece on display. 

RAMSAY 

It is fun to explore the ramparts and the medieval tunnels. The lawn is cared for by grazing sheep. The skies are starting to clear and the sun is warming the day up.

In doing our pre-trip research, we learned the location of Louis Bleriot’s landing. Bleriot was the first person to fly across the English Channel and the location where he landed is very near the Dover Castle. I think landing would be better described as a controlled crash, as the location is in a gully. Interestingly, Bleriot had never been to Dover and relied upon journalist Charles Fontaine to wave a large tri-colored flag in the Northfall Meadow. The exact spot where he landed is marked with a plaque and a stone outline of his aircraft.  

  

We then made our way back to central Dover and went to the Visitor Information Center. We made some purchases for our trip Christmas ornament along with other items  and were encourage to go to the Painted Roman House. 

The Painted Roman House  was discovered in 1970 during a road construction project. This site was preserved and is rather interesting as it gives one an insight into the Roman Times of Dover. Back then, Dover’s topography was quite different as the estuary had not silted in and the River Dour had not silted in. It was then as now a very busy port and the Painted House was a hotel. It contained over 100 rooms. This was the premier lodging during those times. One interesting aspect of this site is the heating system used to heat the floors of the rooms. 

From there we walked to the Royal Post Office to mail a post card. Then we strolled through Pencester Gardens and picked up some Puppy Poop Bags for The Boys. 

For The Boys

very much enjoyed Blakes 

Back at Blakes we cleaned up and went to the Cellar for a pint and some food. I had the Steak and Ale Pie and Lynn had the Croque Monsieur (grilled ham and cheese). The food here at Blakes is very very good, plentiful and served nice and hot. I should also say the staff here is very friendly and have made our stay wonderful, we are looking forward to our return in September. 

Tonight the plan is to organize our bags in preparation for our walk to the ship in the morning. 

We will also return to the Cellar to listen to some music this evening.    

A Day Hiking the White Cliffs of Dover

A day in Dover Hiking along the White Cliffs - 

We are still adjusting to the time change and I did get some extra sleep with the help of an Ambien. 

We were up at 0600 and started our preparation for the day. We had pastries and coffee in the room. Our day bags were packed for hiking the White Cliffs. The skies are overcast and it may rain, and it has been lightly spitting.  

Our plan, given the advice we received from the info center, was to take a bus to St. Margret and hike back. When we arrived at the bus stop the schedule indicated there would not be a bus for 45 minutes so we reverted to Plan B and started our hike from Dover. 

We made our way to the cliff road and located the start of the White Cliffs walking trail. The first part of this route is uphill to the top of the Cliffs. We first passed the Castle as we had great views of the Dover Harbor. 

All most to the top

After reaching the top of the cliffs we soon came upon the visitors center and were there well before it opened. Our plan was to visit the Fan Bay Deep Shelter and understood we needed to purchase tour tickets at the Visitor Center. Luckily we chatted with a person from the Visitor Center as he was placing signs and learned we could pay cash at the Shelter. 

With this new information, we downloaded some nearby Geocaches, located two as we headed out on the trail towards the Shelter. 

The trail is very well maintained and there are several trails heading hither and yon, as well as up and down. After a few miles, we arrived at the Fan Bay Deep Shelter  about 30 minutes before the first tour. 

These ponies were grazing along the trail 

The Trail is well marked 

The Tour lasted about 1 hour and was very informative and well done. 

The Fan Bay Deep Shelter is a sub-terrain barracks which was built in 100 days during WWII. Here the troops who manned the gun emplacements were housed during their on duty time. 

The Shelter is located 23 meters below the surface and there are 125 steps from the surface  to the housing area. The shelter was dug in from the cliffside by Welsh miners who had the skills and they found the digging into the chalk cliffs rather easy, thus the progress was fast. 

The Shelter housed 145 to 158 men with a compliment of 4-6 officers.  The walls were dripping with condensation and one can only imagine what the conditions would have been like during the war with 150 men living 24/7 and smoking in these damp quarters. We noted the condensation to this day as drops formed on the ceiling and walls. 

There were areas for a  medical area where the walls and ceiling were covered with cork to eliminate the condensation. The officers had a separate area as quarters. 

One pre WWII feature were two Sound Mirrors.  These are concave dishes placed facing the channel where a trained individual could listen from these posts and hear incoming aircraft. These were rather effective till the advent of RADAR. 

Sounds Mirror

Inside one can find a lot of graffiti from WWII on to the present day. One bit is confirmed as the writer of the graffiti inscribed his service number. 

We climbed up the stairs to return to the surface. 

We then continued our hike to the South Foreland Lighthouse which was built in 1843. One very interesting fact is Marconi made the first ship to shore transmission to this lighthouse. The lighthouse was also the location for the first international transmission as from there, France was contacted. 

  

From the lighthouse we found a Geocache, this one was named Jet Man. This is the location of the landing spot of the first solo manned jet rocket journey across the channel. 

The English Channel is the busiest sea way on the world with 400 or more ships transiting it daily. 

After the Geocache, we made our way into St. Margaret’s Bay and found the bus stop. We were early and had a great conversation with a local gentleman all about travel and various journeys. 

We bussed back to Dover after hiking about 8 miles and we felt rather peckish. We dropped our packs and headed to the cellar pub for some food. I had a bacon butty and Lynn had fish and chips, all was great. I enjoyed a pint of a local cider called Lunatickel which was very very nice. Perfect for ending along day hiking.  

We stopped at the RSPCA Thrift Store and found an indestructible (maybe) dog chew toy for the Boys.

We will now go shopping for a few sundries and breakfast.  It was a most enjoyable day. Dover has a lot to offer, and we are planning tomorrows agenda.