Ring Around the Country, Part 6

Monday, June 4, 2018

We were up and on the road by 8:30. We headed east on the M27 and A27.

 An old church in East Dean, near the Seven Sisters Chalk Hills in the South Downs National Park at Beachy Head

 Some of the Seven Sisters

 Belle Tout Lighthouse

 Of course the fog had to come in

 I got as close as I could to the edge, it's a long way down! 

  Belle Tout Lighthouse

 Beachy Head Lighthouse

 Then it was up to Bodium Castle. It was built in 1385.  During the Civil War in 1640's, the castle was in the hands of Lord Thanet, who supported the wrong side and sold the castle to pay his fines.

 It was slowly dismantled until several owners in the 1800's started to try to save it.  Finally in 1924 it was given to the National Trust, who are now the caretakers.

 One portcullis remains in place.

If the enemy was stopped at the gate, the defenders could drop things through these holes on top of aggressors.

 This is where the postern gate would have been.

 The inside has suffered from centuries of people tearing apart the walls for stones to use in new homes in the area.

 Really ugly fish in the moat

 The next stop was Cranbrook and the Church of St Dunstans. In my Dad's search of our family history, the earliest ancestor he found was William Eddey(e), vicar of St Dunstans in 1670. It was his children who came to the new colony.

 Then down to Dover. Here is one of the ferries on it's way to France

 Dover Beach

 That's one way to bring your bike

One of the statues on the beach

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

We spent the night in Dover and after breakfast we went for a walk in town

 We had to cross the very busy A-20.  This underpass made it easy

 Another old church

 A walk along the river

 A WWI memorial

 Then we stopped at the city museum.  It was very interesting and had a lot of information about the bronze age

 England sure spent a lot of time and money waging or expecting to wage war with France. Even during the time of our Revolutionary War, they were fighting with France.  No wonder France helped us so much!

 This is the Dover Bronze Age boat, discovered in 1992 and preserved by the Dover Bronze Age Boat Trust. It is 4 oak planks held together with oak wedges and yew stitches.  The seams and stitch holes are packed with moss and beeswax. It is as discovered with no added or replica pieces.  Amazing!

 Next stop was Dover Castle.  Although this area has been fortified for over 2,000 years, Henry II built the current castle in the 1180's. Many buildings were added over the next 800 years.  This one is called the Officers New Barracks and was built in the 1850's.

 This was the WWI Fire Command and Communication Post.

 The view of a very busy port

 The White Cliffs of Dover, as seen from town

 The actual castle buildings.  It is a small part of the walled and defended site.

 A catapult on site

 Part of the defensive trenches and walls of the castle grounds

 Inside the castle walls

It is a very impressive sight

We could have spent all day, maybe 2 here to see it all.  However we are old and have bad knees, so we only spend about 3.5 hours walking up and down all over the site.  I had hoped to go out to the cliffs and the lighthouse, but we did that at Beachy Head, so we opted to save the legs and head up to London. We have a hotel in Epping, which is on the Tube (subway) system.  We'll spend the next 3 days exploring London.