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Published: October 3rd 2007
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We got out of the site by 9.50 and we were in the queue of about 7 vehicles waiting at the gate of Leeds castle, by 9.55am. Leeds castle is a former home of the Royal Family from the 1200’s, until after the death of Elizabeth 1. It is the famous Castle in the lake and is instantly recognisable and a must do. It was once the castle given to the widowed queen, at the death of her King Husband, for her use, until her death. At some point it passed ownership to an Earl cousin of Queen Elizabeth 1(?). In 1974, the last private owner’s family could not afford the 80% Death Tax, so Lady Billy donated to a trust. It is a really well set out attraction, and full of paintings and artefacts relating to hundreds of years of royal occupation. There is also an impressive aviary collection created during the 1900’s, maze (which the kids loved) and a dog-collar museum.
We spent over 2.5 hours there, but you could spend all day. The costs of these places are generally “annual fees”, so many locals go there all the time and just lounge around. We had a cuppa
and lunch in the camper, and then headed for Canterbury by 1pm. Here things got a little fun. The travel notes guided us directing to the car park at the Cathedral. Only problem is that it is staff only. Never mind, there was a large car park next to the City wall, just up from the Cathedral. We pulled in and parked as there were a couple of other campers, paid for our ticket, then on the way out, saw a large sign which said campers were not allowed.
We raced down the quaint streets, and into the Cathedral. Paid for the whole family to go in, then pretty much raced around. After about 30 minutes the kids got bored and wanted to go back to their game boys, so they walked back to the camper under Christopher’s control. Tanya and I spent another 20 or 30 minutes checking the rest out. Photos allowed here, so check them out.
Now, here is were the fun started. We spent about 45 minutes trying to get out of Canterbury. One wrong turn and we were well lost. By now, we were well behind schedule. We arrived at the Dover and
went directly to the White Cliffs National Park. We got there at 4pm and the toll booth shut at 4.30pm and gates to the park are locked at 6pm. The lady waved us through without paying, which is a first.
We headed East out of the car park and walked along the edge of the Cliff. Along the way, we were amazed at the size of the ferry terminal below, the ancient looking seawall, and the speed that the Ferries head out through the seawall. We walked about 500-600 metres and the wind, height etc had Tanya wanting to turn back. Chris, Jordan and myself decided we wanted to get to the highest point, so hot footed it onwards. It took another 15 minutes to get there, and the view is spectacular. In particular, the view back to the town, and the Huge Castle which sits above it high on another hill. I think if you had more time, you would stay in Dover and do the castle the next day. There were some girls sitting on the edge of the cliff writing notes and their legs dangling over the edge !
We headed back to the car
park, mindful of the gates closing time, and the plan of getting to Brighton by 7.00pm. As we headed back, the boys decided to wonder off, eventually realising they had gone too far, when they reached the edge of Town. Once we found them, we managed to get out of the park by 5.55pm! We headed off toward Brighton, not expecting too make it on time. The sun went down by a little after 7pm, so the first hours driving along the coast, and toward Hastings, was very pretty. The going was slow however, as we were in amongst a lot of traffic of the weekenders who head south from London and the like. We were leaving the western edges of Hastings, when we decided to get out first feed of English Fish and Chips. They were extremely hot, so headed on and figured we would find somewhere quiet to camp the night. We headed down a side road labelled Norman’s Bay and shortly afterwards pulled into a quiet clearing near “the most isolated pub in England”, or so we noticed the next morning. We ate our chips and fish and hit the sack, exhausted.
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