Euro tour day 13

Euro tour Day 13

I got up early as I had arranged with the bloke from the hostel for breakfast at around 7am. I didn’t really want to get up though, but I wasn’t sure of the reaction I would receive. I did find out from some other people who were standing outside that the guy was in hospital for some reason. I decided to get something to eat and drink from a nice little cafe down near the train station.

The first plan of attack was to visit the Dover castle although it was a fair walk up the hill. There were several times that I actually found the wet path slippery. I had my umbrella attached to my belt in case it decided to rain. One of the paths I thought I better not walk as there were wet leaves and I was thinking that with all the leaves on the path might mean I would slip on the slope. The walk was really nice and it was at least 9.30am that I had made it to the castle. I looked at the time that it was going to open and then after half hour realised it was weekends only for this time of year although I had walked to the other side and the sign did say Thursdays it was open too. The part of the castle I had walked around has a sign that pointed to the white cliffs. I started walking down the road side as there was no footpath and when I had come across a path that leads back to the castle. On the way I came across a memorial to a French pilot who had landed on that spot and had been the first man to cross the English Channel in 1909. I did not want to risk getting hit by a car especially when I was not sure where the road actually lead to and how I would get back.

The walk down the hill towards the water was interesting. I found an old church which was only a shell. I read that the church remains were seen as a monument to the town from when the Germans were using long range guns to fire into England. A walk along the beach did show me the start of the white cliffs and also windows and what looked to be buildings coming out of the cliff. The structures are actually part of the castle with the tunnel system. I thought the Port of Dover looked interesting although I was thinking at the time about walking on towards the cliff which would be around the corner.  The mud from the cliff face does look white and gunky, also is really hard to come off the boots. The path towards the cliffs did say they were 8 miles.

I was thinking that the hostel manager might be waiting for me when I got back and knew if I was close enough in town that he might not be too cranky. He had talked the night before that I was going to be moved into a single room. I wandered along the seafront and went down the Prince of Wales wharf which gave an excellent view of the castle and since the sun was out I could see some of the white cliffs. I wandered back towards the hostel and found my room had been cleaned and nothing had been sent to another room. I also had to get rid of my jumper as I was literally sweating away.

After leaving the hostel,  I decided that a trip to the Dover museum would be interesting. The museum was interesting as it had the history of the area from the bronze age and when the Romans were in the area. There was also bits about notable people in the area like Charles Dickens, Ian Fleming and Lord Byron. The museum did have a Bronze age boat that had been uncovered in the town and reconstructed in the museum. This was proof that the people had traded with other countries. One of the other displays had about Dunkirk and how the town of Dover was devastated by the bombing during the war.

There was a problem when I returned to the hostel later that afternoon before dark. The door code I had did not work at all and I could not get inside. A kid came out and asked who I was and told me the code had changed. He followed me to my room watching me enter and i think he was happy. Half hour later I went down stairs to the shop and found the wife of the bloke. It turns out that he had gone to hospital after bruising his ribs and the wife and son had come from London that morning on the first train. This was why there was no breaky. I was honest and paid for the room to sort everything out. The lady thought I would be angry that there was no food although I guessed that they were both French and the kid was English. He had thought I was American until I told him I was Australian. I suppose if I had been wearing my All Blacks shirt he would understand.