A  Taste of Britain

Thursday July 24, 2014

Had my breakfast delivered to my door this morning because they don't have a dining room....saved me time. Then off I set for the ferry terminal (looking for the cache at the lighthouse with no success)! It was already hot and humid and the walk to the terminal which looked close was still a kind of zig zaggy 1 km walk. When you get to the terminal you are still about a kilometer away from the ferry....they bus you out there. Of course you have to go through customs so I got another stamp on my passport....it is filling up quickly! The terminal by the way is huge.

Ok...now the price....a walk on foot passenger from Calais to Dover......1 1/2 hrs....through a boring channel......is 40 Euro.....which is $58 Canadian dollars!!!!!!! What do we pay for foot passenger through one of most scenic parts of BC.......$..... I don't want to hear any whining about ferry fare again!!! When I got on I asked at the information booth how much it was for a car and passenge....he told me that if you ask 50 people in a room, everyone would have a different price....depending on day of the week, time of the day, season, specials (ie car with 4 people,,...) crazy!

Bus from terminal to ferry.....up 4 flights of ramps in a plastic tube to get to the walk way. On to the ferry which looks like a cruise ship.....duty free shop, casino, money exchange, about 5 eating facilities and a play director for the kids to keep them busy!!!!! no wonder it costs so much.

"Kids Club"

There are a lot of ferries that run but only one line that takes foot passengers and that's P & O...a monopoly!

The ferry ride was uneventful....wifi not working so I couldn't check how the rest of my trip might work out. I caught the 10:30 ferry.....I've been up since about 7 but walking, paper work and waiting take up time........for a 10:30 they start boarding you 45 minutes before it leave...security, customs, bus, ramps......sigh! 

This seagull "floated" beside the ferry for a good 10 minutes....

without flapping his wings just floating on the air currents!!!!

The white cliffs, look amazing as you are coming in.......

The little hotel I booked for Dover is very close to the ferry terminal

Back gate of the hotel

Sign on the front door!

Back street

Back garden

View from the back stoop

I found it quite quickly but arrived about 12:30 (gained an hour) but the sign on the porch said reception didn't open til 2:30!!! Great.....so as I was deciding what to do.....hide my backpack in the bushes outside the hotel ...in a gated yard or what?....a woman came out....the owner....let me in and my room was ready....so I was off, map in hand.

up up up

I walked up (yes up it's cliffs....hills and forests not like the flat lands of the Netherlands) to the visitor's centre for the White Cliffs....about a km away, then back along the road to the castle.....around the castle ( I didn't go into it) then down in to the town of Dover and around the town, to the beach...I wish had my swim suite with me! During my walk and a talk with the nice people at the information center I have decided that between the heat, humidity, the unsuccessful attempts at making connections with trains and ferries.....I'm heading back to Sneek tomorrow. I will do Great Britain the next time I'm here....maybe a home exchange?! 

I had dinner at a recommended pub/grill on the waterfront (English fish and chips, what else!)...and then headed back to the hotel by about 7 for a much needed shower. I sat on their back stoop doing the blog, answering emails and sending a couple of photos of my view of the white cliff as I was sitting there (answers back from Val and Cam in record time!). Then enjoyed the view of the channel in the front. When it finally got too cool (yeah!) I transferred myself into their lounge....a large cozy front room with a fire place 2 love seats and various chairs, a TV, a piano and a library.....where I chatted to one of the guests who was travelling with her father back to Berlin after 3 years of uni in Leeds. He had come to pick up stuff she had accumulated and attend her graduation.....but she had a present for him......from Berlin to Leeds and back to Berlin she had arranged a Magical Mystery Tour for him...every day they went somewhere new and she had arranged accommodation for them at different places....sometimes it was a special tour...a ride on a steam train sometimes a stop at a relatives!

Anyway I will be travelling back to Calais and then on to Sneek tomorrow morning after my English breakfast that I ordered.

On the bathroom door on the ferry!