Our last day in England and it was a great time. First stop was Dover Castle which dates back to the late 12th century. It was built by Henry II who amassed huge amounts of territory in England and also a good chunk of France. The castle was a mainstay of British coastal defense and was used extensively in WWII. We toured the secret tunnels dug into the cliffs as well as walked all over the castle grounds. We were there for about four hours.
David and Alex walking to King Edward’s tower, circa the 1300s.
The walls and keep of Dover Castle.
We then travelled to Deal Castle which is only 20 minutes from Dover. It was built after Henry VIII broke relations with Pope Clement VII over his divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Henry feared invasion from Catholic countries (notably France) and quickly built coastal defenses and Deal was one of these castles.
David & Alex in Deal Castle, with the English Heritage flag in the background. The English Heritage system is outstanding and we went to many of their sites during our trip.
We arrived home about 4:30pm and the boys paid a visit to the trampoline for one last time. Tomorrow we bid a fond farwell to merry ole England and take the chunnel to Paris. We’ve had a wonderful time thus far.
I had a great day at the beach in 30 years ago – a big f’ing deal as Joe Biden might say.