Dover...

Sunday, April 16. Docked in Dover. Blue sky. 13 C. 80% complete, 25 days to home.

I used to say when you are 80% finished anything you are basically finished! This not the case on this trip however. We may have 25 days left but the last six of those days are spent at sea in the Atlantic sailing to Fort Lauderdale. That means, again I repeat, we have 11 Ports to visit in those 19 days. That is too much for Fellette and I to get much satisfaction out of those Ports, it is exhausting and we have been to most of them before. Life aboard however is quite decadent.

We stepped off the ship and took the Shuttle in that cost us a few English Pounds each that had two stops, one in town by a Cathedral the other up at Dover Castle. We opted for the Castle for no particular reason. When we got in there were some friends from the ship that we knew quite well so we explored a bit together. Eventually we got separated and explored on our own. the Castle is humungous! Part of The National Trust and maintained in a tasteful way so much that it seems in a liveable state.

The footing in many, many areas is tricky and treacherous though. Eventually we decided that we should get down and get our domestic shopping done and have a bite to eat in town. Purely by chance we stumbled across Jim and Gail who came up before us. We took the shuttle back down to town and eventually made it to a Pub that had hot food and Cold Beer and Cider. The food and beverage sure hit the spot to Fellette and I, Jim and Gail seem to have almost endless energy although I detected some sign of relief to sit for a while.

Eventually we had enough of the tiny Pub and its sole employee, who Jim thought was older than us. I said “Nobody is older than us!” I felt it at that point as the Advil did not mask all the beating my tender tootsies had taken. Jim and Gail wandered off in search of I know not what, we went looking for a few drug store items. Mission accomplished! Now to find the pick-up spot for the shuttle and get back to the ship. This we found and were soon back in the familiar cabin. Both Fellette and I fell sand asleep for longer than we should have, skipping dinner and feeling good about the day.

In Zeebrugge, [Brussels], Belgium tomorrow.

A Good Day…

The White Cliffs of Dover, from the ship, with Dover Castle atop. Forgive the Crane.

I just had to take this picture. More chalk white cliffs.

A bit of a walk of 200 meters to enter the first gate.

This is a ‘Mortar' that lobs the ball up and it and goes a very short distance.

Dover below, friends from the ship that we hung out with for a short time.

As I said, lots and lots of stairs. 

Banquet Hall.

People were obviously shorter in those days.

Yup, the kitchen.

At ease in the dim light of the Pub.

The Bar.

Grilled cheese sandwich and chips.

Jim and I opted for Steak and Kidney Pie. Delicious! So, no dinner tonight.