Deal and South East (Part 2)

Another episode to keep you up to date with our travels.

Since our last report, we have visited Dover, Scotney, Sissinghurst, Walmer and Bodiam Castles, the countryside down here is riddled with them. Most of the castles on the south coast were built by Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I to protect against Spanish invasion but there are many that date from much earlier times. For instance, there is a tower at Dover Castle which has a stone base dating back to Roman times where it was a fire beacon to guide Roman galleons into port at Dover. The old Roman upper structure has long since gone but some subsequent castle occupant built a new tower on top of the Roman base. Below is a picture of Bodiam Castle which has hundreds of enormous carp over 2 feet long swimming in the moat.

We spent the day with my niece and her family at Uckfield. We had a great time with them and didn't get back to Deal until 11.30pm.

 We have also been on a train ride from Hythe to Dungeness in a one third scale train. Picture below.

Janice’s cousin Angie from Welwyn Garden City joined us for a few days and we visited Howletts Animal Park which is an open air zoo not far from Deal. That evening we had an excellent meal at the Kings Arms Pub in the village of Sandwich. There is a village nearby called Ham and the pub had a photo on the wall of a road sign indicating Ham ½ mile and underneath Sandwich 3 miles.

Another day we met up with Christine (a second cousin of Janice & Angie) and her husband Mike. It was a glorious day and we ate lunch outside the Kings ead HHead pub in Deal (we haven’t come up with a pub featuring any other part of the King’s anatomy). We retired to our flat overlooking the beach for coffee. A great day.

We also spent a day in Canterbury, looking around the old town and visiting the Cathedral. Picture of the cathedral below and the house where the crooked man lived.

One evening we visited the St Crispins Inn at Worth for dinner (at least this one did not feature a part of the King). It was a 14^th century building with loads of character. I was taken with the sign hanging just inside the door. Picture below.

Today we decided to pop over to France for Sunday lunch. Deal is only 8 miles from the Dover ferry terminal so we hopped on a ferry this morning paying the princely sum of 10 pounds return for BOTH of us and headed for Calais. We indulged in a 3 course lunch at Le Mirador restaurant on the Boulevard Jacqard in Calais and looked around the city center. Being Sunday, all the shops were closed (you can be lucky sometimes!!!). We also visited a World War II museum located inside an enormous German concrete wartime bunker which was extremely interesting. It was then back to the ferry terminal and a pleasant ride back to Dover. Great day.  Note from Janice – the fare over might have been cheap, but I still managed to spend plenty on the ferry (duty free) !! Photo of Calais Town Hall below.

Well, moving on to London tomorrow. Life's hectic isn't it?