July 6 - Dover

We have a mother pigeon sitting on a nest with two eggs.  The nest is on the deep windowsill in our room.  She doesn't seem too distressed with us watching her.

After some debate as to the best way to get to Dover Castle we opted to walk (and preserve our parking space at our hotel).  The walk took us through a square with an awesome floral display...looked just like the coronation crown.

Unfortunately the route also gave us a good view of the castle above the town.  From down below it looked like the castle is straight up a mile high hill.

Fortunately it wasn't quite as bad as it looked.  While it wasn't all that far it did involve a lot of steps (84) before we were even to the ticket office.  Fortunately the walk was mostly shaded, which was good because it is warm again today and the humidity is 95%.

Looking down the stairs

The complex is quite huge and everything is in very good condition.  It is the largest castle in England and there has been some sort of fortification on the site from at least the Iron Ages.  It was later used by the Romans and William the Conqueror built on this site as well.

First visit was the Great Tower or Keep...

where we walked up the 115 steps to the top of the tower.  Awesome views of the harbor and the countryside.

Some of the interior rooms were furnished and looked as they would have during the height of the castle's use as a defensive castle.

There was also a small chapel in the castle.

Just outside the walk up to the keep someone was working on a pretty awesome sand castle.

We also walked up to the Saxon church, St. Mary in Castro, …

and the Roman watch tower (or Pharose) that at one time was used as a bell tower for St. Mary’s.

We walked along the Battlements that ringed much of the castle grounds.

There were also great views from the battlements.  

We also took a tour of the underground tunnels.  The tour focused on the uses of the tunnels during WWII when it was headquarters for an underground communications operation and was the headquarters where the rescue of the troops from Dunkirk was coordinated.  Paul wasn’t initially that interested but conceded that the tour was very well organized and interesting.

We had modest views of the White Cliffs of Dover from the castle.  In the foreground you can see the large queuing lot for cars getting ready to board the ferries to France

After some debate we decided to go back to the room instead of trying to walk on to the White Cliffs walk.  We will hit them first thing in the morning as we leave town for Sandwich and Canterbury.