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Published: February 7th 2008
First Class Travel
We decided we had to go first class at least for once in our livesGday Everyone
At the moment we are sitting in a hotel in Newbury, Berkshire having coffee after another delicious dinner.
Where we left off we were on our way to catch a train to Dover. After a heated debate between our consciences we paid for First Class Seats on the train which was well worth it as we had plenty of leg room and a table to plan the next stage of our journey.
We arrived at Dover at about 1.00pm and caught a taxi to pick up our hire car, which wasnt ready as we had it booked for 2.00pm. They did their best but they had to upgrade us to a brand new (62 miles on the clock) Vauxhaul Zafira Station Wagon.
After a hectic first few days we decided to just stay at the hotel in Dover and just went for a stroll down the Promenade. It was wet windy cold and just plain miserable while we were walking but it cleared up after we got back to the hotel room. For me it was bit of a shock cause there wasnt a grain of sand to be seen on the beach it was
all pebbles well actually they werent even pebbles they were bloody great rocks.
Wednesday After breakfast we went to have a look at The White Cliffs of Dover which were really hard to see since we were standing on top of them. We met a very nice little old lady with an even older dog (Pickles, a Springer Spaniel) who guided us to an area where we could get a good photo of part of the cliffs which we did and Julia took a great one of Dover Castle which leads to the next part of the day.....a tour of Dover Castle and Secret War Time Tunnels.
We took a guided tour of the Tunnels (No cameras allowed again) which was very informative and enjoyable with stories of how the Tunnels were used by Vice Admiral Ramsay to plan the evacuation of Dunkirk and then 4 years later planning the invasion of France with Operation Overlord.
The poor bugger is hardly recognised by historians as he died in early January 1945 before victory.
The tunnels are very damp and cold in winter and very stuffy during the summer months. The poor WRENs had a hell of
The view from here
A couple of photos from the window of the hotel we stayed at in Dover a time as they were in areas that werent heated so had to wear their great coats while working in very dull lighted tunnels for 12 hours or more a day.
British Heritage have been working since 1984 to get the Tunnels back to how they were during WWII. The first part of the tunnels were opened to the public in 1995 and there are many more tunnels not yet open to the public due to safety and some of them still classified under the Official Secrets Act. Which is not due to run out for at least 20 more years. (80 years in total)
The next part was looking around the castle again another proper looking castle with a moat around it. We got some very good photos of this as you can see. Most of the walls and barbican were built in the 13th century and still look reasonably new. There is also the oldest Roman building still standing, a lighthouse, and Saxon church. They are still renovating the medieval tunnels under the walls so we didnt go down cause they were a bit uneven. We still havent worked out what the castle was protecting as
all the arrow and lookout points were actually pointed towards Dover and not the French Coast. But I guess we will read about it in the book when we get a chance.
Around 2 oclock we thought we should get a start on the next part of the journey so we drove a whole 20 miles to a little village called Lympne pronounced Limb for some reason. Here there is an African wild life safari park. We decided we couldnt go around it in the hour that was left of opening time so we drove another 4 miles and stayed at The Stade St Hotel in Hythe. This was probably the best hotel we had stayed at so far, a 19th century building that has had a few renovations and stories added.
Thursday We had to do a bit of washing this morning so we didnt get away until around 11 oclock and as soon as we did we went straight back to the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park.
We took the African Experience Tour which was an old army truck with seats in the back which took us around the part of the park that
Ferry and France
You can see in the background the coastline of France. It's still a little hazy but they reckon on a clear day you can see the cars driving on the roads on the cliffs. had the African and Asian animals. It was a good way to see the park as its about 600 acres so was bit far to walk.
The park was founded by a Lord ??? who used to have a tiger and monkey in his house in London but after the tiger ate someones dog he had to look for some land to house them and it has just started growing. It has the largest black Rhino herd in captivity and they are also brreding to release The Barbary Lion which is extinct in the wild. So far they have released 6 Black Rhinos back into the wild and a couple of Gorillas as well. A very worthwhile visit and proceeds go to the upkeep of the park. Julia bought me a very nice Bronze?? lion for a souvenir
Again the time flew and it was about 3.00pm before we got away from there. And this is where the fun really started....we typed the address of the next place we are going to visit (Bath) into the NavMan and and it took us onto the Motorway where the speed limit is 70 miles an hour and we were still
Dover Castle
This pic and the next one is of Dover Castle from the top of the White Cliffs. It really is a fantastic looking castle passed by the majority as if we were standing still. A bit nerve wracking when we hadnt experienced that sort of traffic before.
We decided not to drive right to Bath as that was nearly 200 miles away so we stopped here at Newbury instead. Since we did that we worked out that Stonehenge is only about 90 minutes away so we will go there first in the morning and then on to Bath later.
Julia here.... just to add to the Lord and the tiger story.... this bloke had the tiger living in his apartment in one of the surrounding areas in London... he used to take it for a walk in the wee hours of the morning, 2 or 3am, so no one would see it..... but one morning someones dog came out and the tiger ate it.... so much for keeping it quiet!!
We're having a great time but have found it really hard to pass by some of the places on the maps.... so we have decided to up the pace a bit, that's why we are heading to Bath so quickly...... sorry to Joan Ray and Micheal for not getting down that
way!!
Miss you all and thinking of you's (those in the West and those in the East) especially Misty, Melly, Penny and Player. Oh yeah Russ too!! hehe
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