Dover Castle

Perched high above the town of Dover is Dover Castle. It is a fascinating castle and the longest continuously occupied defensive fort in the UK. It was established in Roman times, served admirably in WWII, and was in use up until the mid 80's.



Our plan today was to get up early and head off to the castle to beat the crowds. We had breakfast at the B&B, and it was excellent. I had the Full English, which consisted of eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, baked beans, black pudding, and toast.






I have come to appreciate black pudding while here. It is spicy and very good with eggs and baked beans. Tony has not come to appreciate baked beans for breaky.




Pepper was being particularly stubborn about eating her food that morning. Bentley was dying to step in and eat it for her. Eventually, with the help of some bacon smuggled up from our breakfast, we got her to eat.









It was a beautiful sunny morning, and looked to be a good day to do some sightseeing.








Dogs are allowed on the castle grounds, but not inside the warrooms or the castle interior. This made for a lot of fun walking around the verdant ramparts surrounding the castle.











These have evolved over the centuries to form the extensive fort that this has come to be.








The dogs seemed to really enjoy walking around exploring it as much as we did.












It really was one of those rare beautiful mornings that we get here on occasions.






We climbed up the hill to the old Roman lighthouse standing sentinel over Dover harbor and the closest point to France. We could see it across the English Channel only 20 miles off.



The views or Dover below were amazing that morning.





We could see the harbor and the ferries taking people back and forth from France. At some point the plan is to rent a car and drive down here again to take the ferry to the mainland. It is one of the few ways we would be able to take the dogs with us.




One of the more fascinating aspects of Dover Castle is its long history and involvement in WWII. As this was the closest point to Nazi occupied France, there was great concern about this being the point of invasion.



So they built out this huge underground complex into the Chalk Cliffs. It has just recently been opened to the public.





So deep into the cliffside we walked. They attempt to take you back to the 30's by giving you an audio visual presentation. Tony wasn't impressed, but I thought it was a good effort, if a bit too long at about 1 hour. It would be even better if it were about 30 minutes. It does give you a really good view of Operation Dynamo, which was a strategic retreat from France by Britain near the beginning of WWII.



The best part of the tour was when they finally let you wander around some of the original rooms that have been setup as they would have been at that time. They have done a nice bit of set dressing, and they make for a neat experience.



By the time we were done with this tour, we decided not to take the tour of the underground hospital, as it was starting to wear on in the day, and we still had a lot to see.

Standing guard over the channel is a statue of Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay. I couldn't help but think of the movie Patton, and the portrayed rivalry between George Patton and Ramsay.




The cliffs are very steep in this spot, and there are dwellings at the base of the cliffs. So they had one of the best signs I've ever seen. It is in both English and French.





After seeing the WWII rooms, we journeyed back in time to the era of Henry II and visited the original castle up on top of the hill.









It is a beautiful structure, and the castle keep inside has been wonderfully maintained, and recently restored.







It has multiple levels with drawbridges. It really felt like the castle one always imagines in literature about mideavil knights and castles.










All we need now is a dragon. . .











It was fun to climb the stairs to find the different chambers in the castle.










All of the unusual shapes and tunnel directions, designed to make the castle difficult to capture provided for some very unusual and interesting lighting and shapes for photography.







We eventually made our way to a room where they had recreated a concept of what the original king's chambers may have looked like.









The throne room and bed chambers felt a little Disney-fied, but they were still fun and played into the medieval fantasy just fine. If only they'd let me bring in the dogs, I would have love to take their picture sitting on the thrones.




We ultimately ended our time at Dover Castle on the roof of the castle which is the highest point in the immediate vacinity. There were stunning views of the castle grounds and Dover below. We stared out across the seas at France as had so many generations before us keeping an eye on the people across the channel.