Tuesday July 9 – Dover England

It was so exciting to watch the white cliffs of Dover come into sight this morning.  A large group disembarked today and a new group took their place.

Bill and I walked and walked and arrived back at the ship quite weary after sixteen kilometres.  I got my nails done and we had a fish and chip lunch at the Eight Bells Pub.  I will leave Bill to tell you about their use of an App in this pub as he was very excited about it.  Bill here: Just an extension of Uber Eats. Free WiFi. Download the Pub App. Give your table number. Order and pay online. Food and drinks delivered without having to line up at the bar. Great! After this we walked up the hill to the castle which was built by Henry the second.  It is most impressive and has spectacular views over Dover and out across the sea to France.  We went through a section devoted to the Queen’s Foot Regiment. Diana was the patron of this but after she died the patron became Queen Marguerite of Denmark. For centuries, the English believed there was no need for a permanent army.  The army protected their shores and they could see no need to retain and pay professional soldiers.  In 1572 at a review of the London trained bands by Queen Elizabeth I, an English company was raised to fight in Holland. Later, this force returned to England and became the third regiment of Foot.  In the period of the Commonwealth, 1645 to 1660, Oliver Cromwell formed his new model army as a permanent force.  Once the monarchy was restored in 1660, Charles II undertook to abolish Cromwell’s army very much against the advice of his brother, the Duke of York,  for one Regiment of Foot Guards and one troop of Horse Guards.  A riot in London led by Thomas Venner gave the Duke of York the justification he needed to persuade the King to retain a small permanent army.

 We did a tour of the tunnels used during the second world war to plan and execute the evacuation of the Allied forces from Dunkirk. There was an excellent audio visual presentation in the tunnels of the events leading up to WWII and the subsequent perilous position of the soldiers waiting on the beach to be rescued.

It was a very large and interesting fortress in a most strategic position but by the time I got home I just wanted a bowl of soup and then bed.  Bill got second wind after dinner and watched the sail away. Bill here: It was pretty special sailing out of Dover just as all those little boats did to rescue the troops. On the foreshore in Dover there was a memorial constructed from the German big guns that were used to fire upon Dover from the other side of the Channel.