Dover

We had a couple of days, and we tried to decide what to do. We decided one we would go to Dover. Of course, the day we decided to go was one of the windiest, most overcast, misty and chilly days we have had since being here. The wind was even blowing in from the East where Dover is located on the UK island.

We hopped on the overground train at Charring Cross station. The trip to Dover Priory was wonderful. We had the train car almost to ourselves and it was warm and relaxing. It was almost a two-hour trip, but we did not care. We talked along the way. Becky mentioned that when she visited her aunt in Belgium when Becky was a teenager, she remembers traveling across the English Channel on a hovercraft boat.

I wondered how much a trip like that cost and from where do you take the boat. I discovered a ferry that goes from Dover to Calais France and that the tickets for 90-minute boat trip were only going to be £42. We decided to do it. We would get to Dover and take the boat to France. So, we bought the tickets. This would be an adventure, and we would have fun. It was rainy and cold anyways so why not just spend the day on trains and boats.

Unfortunately, after we had paid, and we saw the fine print that mentioned that we should not forget to have our passports for the trip. Well in the UK you don’t need your passport with you, so we did not have them. So, we had just paid £42 for a trip we could not take. Well, we decided we would head to the port when we arrived in Dover and see what they had to say. It was a two mile walk to the port. Did I mention it was windy, misty, and cold and now we were on the actual cost of the English Channel. We had fun though. We walked right down to the water and long the harbor. We saw the White Cliffs and the houses along the waterfront were amazing. It was cold and windy and misty.

We got to the Harbor and checked with the P&O Ferry company. The woman at the terminal was amazing. I totally admitted it was our fault, and we should have known we needed passports to go into another country. She laughed and we rescheduled our tickets for another day. We are not at all upset that we will have to come back to Dover and then we can head over to Calais France. We will only be able to spend a few hours over there, but who cares.

We then called a taxi to get back to town. When Fred our driver asked where to, I said, “I don’t know, but we are hungry and want to eat at some local restaurant”. He said no problem and then gave us the tour guide information of the town and what we could get done in the time we had remaining and what we could not. He was great and his information will help us when we come back later in the month.

He dropped us off at the Eight Bells pub. It was dry and warm, and we ate a very slow lunch. Afterwards we walked right across the street to Fred’s first recommendation which was St. Mary’s Church, and over 400-year-old church.

We wanted to go in, but at first could not find a door open. Becky finally found a small side door open, so we went in. Part of the sanctuary was being remodeled, but we walked around and read plaques and looked at the gorgeous architecture and just the overall history and beauty of the place. We were the only ones in the church. That is when a man came out, surprised to see us, he finally told us we were not to be in there and had to leave. Ooops!! We slowly moved out. We tried to see another place called The Roman Painted House, that houses some Roman ruins that were discovered in the town. Unfortunately, it was closed.

We were tired and cold and decided to walk back to the train station and head home. When we got back to Kensington, we had a quick meal at the Duke of Clearance pub and then headed home. It was a great day, and we really enjoyed the adventure.