Blogs from Dover, Kent, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

Catching the Ferry I thought my drive from Lille to Dunkirk would be fairly straight forward since it was only 80km away and involved using a motorway for the majority of the journey. I set my alarm, allowing 2.5 hours in total before my ferry would set sail for England. I woke up one hour before my alarm was due to go off. I was feeling tired, but could not go back to sleep so decided to get up and get to the ferry earlier than planned. I selected the port location on my Satnav and set off for home. The weather was bad with heavy rain. I decided I had plenty of time with waking up early and went at a steady pace on the motorway. Once I got to Dunkirk, the traffic was bad, ... read more

Day 1 - Birmingham to Dover: 207 Miles So after a busy last day in the office fuelled by what must have been 57 cups of coffee, a quick stop at home for a shower and to finally pack some clothes, I picked up Dave F from the Jewellery Quarter and we bravely battled the rush hour traffic towards John's place in Quinton. An incredibly dull start to the trip of a lifetime, but that of course is why we're going somewhere else now. In the park next to John's house however, we did manage to play our first hole of the longest-course-ever-played. Let me explain. We've packed 3 golf clubs and a few balls, and will create a hole of golf in every country we visit, using whatever local scenery seems like fun. The challenge ... read more

After breakfast in the hotel, we left and headed to the newest piece of land in Britain, Samphire Hoe, created using the 4.9 million cubic metres of spoil from the Euortunnel. It has become a green, grassy area and a haven for fishermen who line the seawall. At £5 per day to fish, they would have to be pretty successful! We walked along the sea wall which is basically just a giant concrete wall about 5 metres thick. There are some photos of the huge waves that crash over the wall in stormy weather – no fishermen in those pictures! Moving on down the coast is the memorial for the Batttle of Britain. Shaped as a huge propeller, there is a number of signboards that tell the story of the battle and the shifts in power ... read more

We went to Dover castle one of the days we were in England. It was really interesting, first walking in there, because the outside makes it look like one big castle, but it is really just a wall around it. We first looked at the things that are around the castle, like mortars, catapults and cannons. Then we went undneath the castle to where we think prisoners were put. There we were big metal balls with cannon balls on them so it was difficult to move the doors in and out. Then we went up into the castle where we learned about the history of King Henry the second and his family, and how they had many fights with each other. Then we went up into one of the towers which had the sleeping quarters for ... read more

Leaving Hastings under a flurry of snow, with Ian sneezing and suffering quite badly, we abandoned plans to visit Hastings Castle and made a quick exit for Dover while we could! Woolly says – Poor Ian was feeling decidedly under the weather, sometimes we have to compromise and this was an occasion when it proved necessary. Finding our way to Dover was easy, I saw loads more cars from my I Spy book but due to our speed it was impossible to take pictures! We pulled onto Hawthorn farm, Martin Mill, Dorset and had a lovely greeting from the receptionist and she still keep smiling went I went back and told her that we had parked in the wrong place. I explained my total lack of direction and there was no problem. Jo headed off to ... read more