Because we have had some negative experiences in the not so distant past, we have taken to checking to make sure that our train is not one subjected to the never-ending "engineering works" being performed perpetually in the UK. This country is so dependent on train travel and they are constantly working on the train tracks. When they do, they close off a section of track and set up a bus bridge. Which means you have to get off the train, get on a bus, ride the bus for a certain period of time, get off bus, get on another train and then get to your destination. Not the worst thing in the world if you count starvation and "Charles in Charge" but it can still put a crimp into your day. So yesterday the train company website said that there were delays on the train we needed to take because of "earth movement" which caused electrical interruption. What??? THEY HAD AN EARTHQUAKE IN KENT! Coming from earthquake country, we found this fascinating. Now, I know I will offend some of my British fans here when I point out it was a little earthquake as far as earthquakes go - 4.3. But they don't have any noteworthy quakes here so as far as they were concerned, this one rocked the house. The most damage wasn't in the town we were going to but in a few towns close by. I saw pictures of fallen brick & stone walls, shelves busted in the grocery stores. Loads of chimneys fell off houses. I guess when your house was built in 1816, the chimney is susceptible to falling off in a minor ground shaker. Now it was different than the Bay Area quakes we are used to getting, as there was no unending discussion about the BIG ONE that is sure to happen in the next week, next month, next year, next century and are you prepared? No discussion of having any dried fish & chips, dehydrated beer or matches buried in your backyard somewhere. Rookies.
Dover was interesting. The town itself doesn't have the charm of some of the other English hamlets we have visited because it was pretty much bombed flat in WWII. But it has some other points of interest. The White Cliffs of Dover are known world wide. To quote one of the Funsucker nephews "they're cliffs, they're white, they're there". Gotta love adolescent boys. It is also a very happening sea port. Quite a few cruise ships dock there and a lot of industry - container ships and the like. It is also the narrowest part of the English channel and on a really clear day you can see France fairly easily from Dover. It wasn't especially clear on the day we were there but you could make out shapes of buildings in the distance. It was this close proximity that made Dover strategically important from the 11th/12th centuries all through World War II.
There has been some kind of fortress in Dover since the Anglo Saxon Age.
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Most of what is Dover Castle today was rebuilt and remodeled during the reigns of William the Conqueror and Henry II around 1066 - 1155 or so. There is an extremely old Roman lighthouse that
has probably been there since somewhere between 50 - 80 AD. The castle itself is impressive as it has been around so long and gives you a realistic view of what life must have been like at the time of say Henry VIII. They have the castle set up as it might have been right before the visit Henry VIII made in 1539. I am always amazed at how different life was in these castles vs. what we have seen on the Hallmark Theatre Productions or even Showtime's "The Tudors". It all looks so opulent and rich on television when it reality it was not. The walls are all made of stone and might have been covered temporarily with wood or tapestries but the overall feeling is still cold, both in temperature
and coziness. We wandered up and down the stairs, which are not paneled in rich, dark , mahogany like they lead you to believe in the Tudors, but are steep, narrow and stone. I can't imagine more than one person at a time walked up these stairs and managing those long skirts was probably no picnic for the ladies of the court.
One of the most interesting aspects of Dover Castle is underneath the Castle grounds itself, the tunnels. There are two series of tunnels, the medieval tunnels and the "secret wartime" tunnels. The medieval tunnels were built
sometime in the 12th century and used basically to house soldiers and communication between different parts of the castle grounds without being seen by an enemy. In the 1800s during the Napoleonic wars, they were remodeled and used a barracks for up to 2000 men. It really is a maze and interesting to imagine a whole army encampment underground.
We were most looking forward to the "secret wartime" tunnels. These tunnels were initially built as an extension of the medieval tunnels during the Napoleonic war but were expanded and used extensively in World War II. The tunnels were used as a war time command/communications center, a hospital, offices, barracks etc. More recently, these tunnels were supposed to the bunker for the Royal Family and important government officials in case of nuclear attack. Historically important, it was from these tunnels that Admiral Ramsey directed the evacuation of thousands of British and American soldiers from the battle of Dunkirk in France. Originally it was thought that only 30,000 - 50,000 soldiers could be evacuated but they ended up rescuing over 300,000 soldiers in what Churchill called the "Miracle of Dunkirk". Since Snake is studying this period in history, he was especially interested in seeing the tunnels.
Guess what? Closed. Because of the "earthquake". They weren't sure if the tunnels built in the 19th century and later were structurally sound but we could walk through the tunnels constructed in the 12th century, some 700 years earlier? Scary.
2 comments:
I don't think there were too many Americans evacuated from Dunkirk. It was long before the US declared war on Germany.
You are absolutely right Anonymous! I knew that but I think it was a slip of the fingers on the ol' keyboard. Sometimes my fingers move faster than my brain! Thanks for pointing it out!
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