A little excitement this week as we finally got our bank card. Its basically a debit card, but you can't get one until you live here about a month And there are a number of things you cant get (like a cell phone) until you have one. So we were able to get our I phone hooked up and running on Sunday. Before that i had bought a one month plan and Leanne had her work phone.
We decide to take a trip to Dover on Saturday and see the White Cliffs. It would be another hour train ride to get there, part of it on a high speed train. Coach seems to be getting the hang of mass transit, the bus and tube he tends to just sit, with the train he will lay down. So far on the train trips we've been able to get seats with a table. The table gives Coach an area to lay down.
About 6 stops on the way out with one connection (switch from on train to another) and like last week the county side was fantastic. About 3/4 of the way there we started to see views of the English channel and the coast of France.
As we arrived we were greeted by the view of the largest castle in England, Dover Castle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Castle
We may make another trip here to see it.
About 2 miles into our walk we looked back to see where we had been. Far off is the beach, the ferry port to the left and another view of the castle.
From the train station we walked to town and the beach. It was a stone beach with no sand, and not all that crowded. About 200 yards out there were a lot of swimmers that looked like they were swimming some type of course.
Past the beach are the ferry boats, lots of them. It took us about an hour to walk from the beach to the start of the cliff walk and we must have seen four ferry's leave and four more come in. Its a huge port with lots of trucks and cars waiting to get on them. The ferry's are about the size of a cruise liner and can hold up to 1,000 cars. As you looked across the channel you could see the boats coming and going all day. France can be seen in the distance.
The view was stunning and we could not have picked a better day. The temps were in the 70's and as you can see clear sky's all day. Leanne's cell phone kept getting info for France and mine got them from France and Belgium.
There were a lot of people walking the cliff walk, young and old. From this point we would be walking to the light house far off in the distance. Also at about this point we got to the Fan Bay Deep Shelter. During WW II there was a gun battery here along with a series of tunnels where the service people stayed. The guns are gone but the tunnels are still there for tours.
More info about this and the white cliffs are on this web page.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/white-cliffs-dover/?p=1356319341746
And there is no guard rail at the edge of the cliff. Over here they figure if your dumb enough to walk off the edge, go for it.
After a stop at the light house we hiked down to the city of St. Margret. We had been told that there was a nice pub down by the beach.
After a long walk down we made it to the pub for a couple of pints and some fish and chips. This pub has the distinction of being the closest pub to France.
Another stony beach, Leanne said the water was not cold, but it was weird not walking on sand.
Being we walk down to the beach the only way out was up. A short climb up a busy road and thru a walk way of stairs and we got to a bus stop for our ride back to Dover. So far for most of our travels we have been able to take a bus from one town to another. They seemed to be doing that right here, and we see no need for a car.
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