Day 22 - 2 September - Dover

We left our lovely B&B in Hastings and drove to Dover.  Another scary English drive for part of the way, but the last few miles were motorway. Very nice.

We went straight to Dover Castle.  It's an enormous site.  We started by looking at the Roman Pharos (lighthouse) and the nearby Church of St Mary-in-Castro that dates from around the year 1000.

Then, we went to the main castle which is simply stupendous.  Much of the castle and its outbuildings are still intact, and you can walk through them - there are displays and museums as well as the castle.  The castle itself is on at least 7 levels; we went right up to the top and the views are spectacular.  

The castle

Dining hall

King Paul

Interestingly, they keep real fires burning in a number of the fireplaces which presumably adds somewhat to the reality.  
We spent quite some time here - including some lunch at the cafe - then continued on looking at other displays.  
Unfortunately I slipped when trying to go into the medieval tunnels; I was holding onto the guide rope with my right hand but I slipped anyway and took most of the weight on my bum and left hand.  No damage to my bottom - it's too well padded! - but the wrist and elbow took a bit of a beating.  I don't think I've broken anything but I've definitely stretched or strained some muscles, and jarred my wrist and elbow; it was just a bit sore at the start but then it got worse to the point where I couldn't carry anything.  However, we continued on and saw the WW2 tunnels display - a really impressive show where you move through some of the tunnels watching movies and seeing displays about the use made of the tunnels in WW2.  Most specifically, the people who organised the evacuation of Dunkirk worked from these tunnels.
After we finished at the castle, we drove into the town.  It was still too early to check in to our accommodation, so we parked the car in a council car-park, intending to post some souvenirs and unwanted clothes home.  And we did, but not before both of us managed to get stung by nettles.  Truly, England took a dislike to us today  :-)
We returned to the car only to discover a seagull sitting on the roof.  It had to be chased away; they're basically not scared of humans.  When it flew away, we discovered that it had left its mark - not just a little mark but a couple of huge stream of seagull poop.  Seriously, I have no idea how one bird could make that much mess in such a little time!  Even the English seagulls don't like us!
We then wandered over to our B&B, and got the first good bit of news for the day - we had been upgraded to their "Georgian Suite" which is their best room  - a really large room with a four-poster bed, separate bathroom.  Just beautiful.
We still weren't done sight-seeing for the day - we drove back up past the castle to the National Trust's "White Cliffs" location where you can get some excellent views of the iconic cliffs.

Finally, we walked into the town to a fish and chip shop that we had taken note of earlier, and got take away fish (haddock) and chips for dinner.  Possibly the best meal since we left home - simple, fresh, well-cooked - just excellent.