May 9, 2013 - Leeds Castle & Canterbury

We’ve been to Dover to board the hovercraft to Calais, France when we were still leading groups of high school students on European adventures. It’s been a long time. This stop is advertised on this cruise as a way to see London, but it’s 70 miles away and once you get there, there’s too much to see. We heard that Dover itself doesn’t have much to offer a tourist, so we chose a tour that went to nearby Leeds Castle, a place we’ve never been and then took us to Salisbury for some free time. This seemed like an ideal tour. We like to learn...

Apr 4, 2013 - England Day 7

We were up early for our first official bus tour of the trip. We took a taxi to Virginia Coach Station for some people-watching while we waited for our coach to carry us to Leeds Castle in the blowing snow. It was still bitterly cold and we had a day full of huge snowflakes. Leeds is a Norman castle built in the 12th century and is on 500 acres of gardens complete with an aviary, a golf course, a maze and a lake that serves as the moat. The castle itself was built on three islands and connected in the past by drawbridges. Now they are...

Nov 18, 2012 - Dover Castle

After heavy rain last night, this morning it is a lovely sunny day. After breakfast we drove Homer to Dover Castle where our English Heritage paid off with free admission for the day. We looked through the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment Museum which tells the story of military conflicts involving British regiments throughout the world. We then explored King Henry II’s great tower and climbed to the top for great views of Dover. We then went down into the medieval tunnels built in the early 13th century. We emerged just as the land-train...

Jun 30, 2012 - Dover, England

We left our cg at 8:30 and 20 min. later found ourselves in a massive slow down! Traffic must have been backed up and crawling for 5 miles (as heard on the radio). Today is Armed Forces Day in England so we surmised there was a big event or parade down the way but we never found out the exact reason for our gaining just 4 kms in 1 hour 50 minutes! |It was truly annoying and a waste of fuel. Dieter directed us off the first exit we finally came to and we took local roads through villages and farm country for about 30 kms. I figure we lost...

Apr 1, 2012 - Day 4 Dover England - Crossing Over

OMG! Why is Jo waking me @ 4am (Even the chickens are still sleeping!)? Oh, I forgot it's our first bus trip as a group. OK, now I have to get a move on! The bus is rolling at 5:30. Oh my, I'm looking forward to meeting new people, engaging conversation and hopefully, making new friends (Hope my hearing aides hold up - I don't want to miss anything! Hmmm, did I bring enough spare batteries? Do they have Walgreen's or CVS drugstores in Europe?). Well, In the next few hours, we'll be on a ferry crossing the English Channel! Who would have...

Oct 2, 2011 - Dover and the "BASTARD" roundabouts

I had another visitor before bed last night. A field mouse decided to explore our room. Sam & Jim chased it out of our room and into somewhere else. Obviously I forgot to mention that nephew Phil and his wife Helena from London managed to join us Friday for a most enjoyable weekend. Phil is a professional photographer and a good one to boot, and I am using some of his photos. Thanks Phil. Part of the 40 pounds extra weight were the (2) two quilts for our niece and nephew who recently married (No not to each other). When presented to Helena...

Sep 30, 2011 - Dover bound

After unpacking our cases to remove the 40 pounds of excess stuff, we (that is me) re-packed them for our week in Dover, Kent. The weather was forecasted for average fall temperatures of between 21-24F. Now brother-in-law Derek did tell us before we left Canada that they were expecting 80F for a few days I grabbed one pair of Capri pants and stuffed them in the case. We left Salford at about 10:30am after a few false starts and arrived in Dover (actually a place called River) at 5pm. It was a Friday night, and with the good weather...

Sep 29, 2011 - The English Channel

Fun and games at the ferry In Calais this morning. We had 3 pm reservations, but we arrived early and switched to an earlier sailing. The bus took us to the ship, but we had to return to the terminal waiting room because of a one hour strike! 90 minutes later we were finally able to board and sail. Once in Dover, we caught a train to London. A long day of travel...

Aug 10, 2011 - Dover (The End)

Woke up in Dover... after breakfast we disembarked, claimed our bags and met up with Dan, the same driver that brought us to Dover to begin the cruise. Since we don't fly home until Thursday, we decided to spend a couple of hours touring Leeds Castle before heading to our hotel at Heathrow airport. The castle is only 30 minutes from Dover and on the way to Heathrow. Our only regret was 2 hours was not enough for Leeds! The weather was perfect for touring the castle! This place was incredible, as you can see in the photos! Henry VIII had it...

Jul 29, 2011 - Return to Dover

We woke up this morning back in Dover… the end of the first leg of our cruise. There was lots of commotion early as everyone is required to be out of their cabin by 8:00 AM and off the ship by 9:00 AM. All the cabins need to be cleaned and the total ship spruced up in time for the new load of passengers to get on board… starting around 1:00 PM. It was interesting to see the ship readied for the next cruise… while still attending to the few of us passengers that remained on-board for the second cruise. The weather was excellent (sorry to...

May 21, 2011 - Dover, England

The white cliffs are beautiful. We were surprised at how small the port is. We had to use pounds and pence here instead of euros. We took the ship shuttle bus to Dover castle. While standing in line to get in, we met Keith and Marge from Australia. We were all told the castle opened at 9:00 AM but it didn’t. Mac and Ginny were first in line because they walked up and thought it opened early. We all waited till 10:00 AM when it really opened. Commanding the shortest sea crossing between England and the continent, Dover Castle has a long and...

Jan 3, 2011 - Rhineland 1999

Our second day saw our arrival at the Channel Ferry Terminal, and a rush to get on board the ship, as we had arrived just in time! Following the precession of vehicles in to the loading bay, we are tucked in between trucks, cars, and other coaches. For the first time since Grantham services, we are allowed off of the coach to stretch our legs, get some food and "relax" in the passenger areas. Going up a massive set of steel steps up the side wall of the vehicle hold, we get up to the passenger areas, and generally mill about. It only takes...