The Far East

The last post from England. We give back hire car & fly to Berlin tomorrow. Appropriately, the last day was spent in Dover, with the white cliffs in view & grey skies. Didn't see any bluebirds - even Nissans. Dover Castle is in great shape and dominates the town. It has been a fortification and barracks since Roman times, and was a headquarters in WW1 & 2. The evacuation of Dunkirk was directed from here, as was much of the defence of the SE of Britain.

Silhouettes on windows of Admiralty Lookout in Dover Castle, to aid watchers during WW2. France is only 21 miles away here.

Entry in Dover Castle to some of the tunnels under the white cliffs, built a few centuries ago, but extended and used as dressing station, communication centre and forward base in WW2. We went through them- walked in Winston Churchill's footsteps. Saw first aid post, repeater station, dormitory, kitchen, offices, war planning rooms etc.

Admiralty Lookout, Dover Castle

Church & Roman Lighthouse within Dover Castle

Dover from the Castle

Part of the busy Dover ferry terminal.

Ferry Terminal, town (in mist in distance), white cliffs & castle on hill. Dover in a nutshell.

Sussex and Kent

Some more coastal wandering. Spent time in Brighton & Hastings before heading north into Sussex to visit my step brother Vivian & wife Karen. Then headed to the most eastern coast in England, and explored the Dover, Deal & Sandwich area.

Deal, Kent - where we think the Files family came from.

The 'Sandwich Weavers' Pub. Previously the home & workshop of Dutch weavers who fled religious persecution in the 1500's. In the exquisite village of Sandwich.

Viv & Karen at Sissinghurst.

View from upstairs at Vivian & Karen's house near Ticehurst, Sussex

Sissinghurst - from tower.

Sissinghurst. We saw it on a blustery day with occasional rain. Enjoyed it and got a few ideas. And the poor weather kept the crowds away. Barry maybe didn't enjoy it as much as Viv, Karen & I- he got car sick on the way, being a passenger in the car through the narrow winding roads.

Hastings- the old town, from Castle Hill. They call this 1066 country, being the place where William of Normandy (the Conqueror) defeated Harold & made England a Norman country. French was the official language here for a long time after that.

The series 'Foyle's War' was set in Hastings, & maybe was filmed there- the old town is like a film set.

Remains of Castle on hill above Hastings- which was fortified by William before battle.

Finally got a photo of a Brighton squirrel. They have such darting movement that it's hard to get a snap of them.

Brighton Pavilion. Very dramatic building, with Indian influence.

Brighton is quite different- the lanes are famous. Full of shops & cafes. More down-market & interesting- reminds me of Brunswick or Carlton. Also lots of posh shops & hotels and the expected huge amount of holiday accommodation. The Brighton Pier is extraordinary- so much tat for sale and crap food and noisy, gaudy amusement arcades. Odd sort of holiday.

Also lots of creative graffiti.

Gone but not forgotten.

Brighton Beach.

Along the south coast - Salisbury and Portsmouth

Back through Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Sussex and Kent. Spent some time around Salisbury & passed through Chichester. There's a large Royal Navy Base at Portsmouth, which is open to public (to a limited extent). Must pay to see Mary Rose Museum and to have access to the ships in port. Heaps to see but needs more time than we had. We did Harbour cruise and saw the Navy Harbour & Container terminal from the water.

Heads at Portsmouth Harbour, with the Isle of Wight ferries arriving and departing.

Old & new. The Royal Navy's oldest iron ship, the HMS "Warrior', with the 'Spinnaker Tower' in background.

HMS 'Ark Royal', still in commission and berthed at Portsmouth.

Nelson's flagship HMS 'Victory'

List of the Navy ships in port - Portsmouth

A garden backing onto the Avon River at Salisbury.

Salisbury street- in the rain unfortunately. They call it a medieval city, but the Roman's have their fingerprints on it. Most attractive & interesting. The cathedral is quite imposing.
We gave Stonehenge a miss and went to Avebury, about 20 miles north, which has a smaller henge. Concentric circles of stones (no top stones) with a village inside. Can wander around all the stones and do a perimeter walk of this ditch, which is is terrific condition. A guy was even climbing some of the stones, but this is probably frowned on.

Avebury- world heritage site.

Along the south coast - Plymouth and Torquay

Heading across the south coast from the eastern extremity at Lands End to the very west around Dover & Deal. Stopped for a look at Plymouth- mostly around the waterfront. There is a naval base there, hence the ships showing in the photos. Spent night in Torquay (not quite at Fawlty Towers but it was a strange hotel)

Torquay Harbour at dusk. An attractive summer playground. They actually have a small beach with sand (may be artificially created for all I know) The English don't have many sandy beaches, so I guess that's not their expectation.

Torquay There a a few buildings which are not hotels, guest houses, restaurants or cafes, but not many. It must b a very quiet place in the winter.

For Dad - Arthur's plaque (panel 74) on the huge Naval Memorial overlooking Plymouth Sound.

Naval Memorial to British & Allied sailors lost at sea. Sobering how huge it is. On Plymouth Hoe overlooking the Sound. Maintained by Commonwealth Ware Graves Commission.

Colourful Lighthouse on Plymouth Hoe

Looking out over Plymouth Sound. Beautifully maintained headland with statues & memorials of things military (naturally - being a naval base). Below is a view from the headland towards Plymouth Harbour. It's on the Tamar River (as is Launceston in Devon!)

Cornwall

Our focus in Cornwall was St Buryan, where my Jacka family came from. It's way down in toe, past Penzance & 5 miles from Lands End. Clearly has a mild climate. I expected windswept coastal fields but it was quite woodsy with gardens growing right down to the sea. Although all the distances down there are small, the roads are narrow & hemmed in by hedges & walls, so progress is always slow. Obviously a fertile and productive area.

Didn't have much time to explore the north coast, which is where most of the mining happened. My Davy's came from this area, but we only managed to visit St Agnes.

A Penzance street. Hills surrounding the port are steep, like lots of coastal villages & cities, with buildings stacked up & down the hills.

The 'Admiral Benbow' for those who remember 'Treasure Island'

Sign in Penzance laundromat.

7bThe entry courtyard at Boskenna Home farm, where we stayed. This is significant because it was part of the estate where my gr gr gr grandfather worked as a gardener and where my gr gr grandfather & most of his siblings were born. It is now a B&B.

Paynters Cove near Boskenna

Porthcurno, near St Buryan & Boskenna

The causeway to St Michael's Mount, off Marazion near Penzance. The tide was in so it was under water & we couldn't get across. A regular fleet of small ferries operates, but it was too late in the day for us to take advantage of them, do we had a cream tea instead.

St Michael's Mount

Lands End- without the tourist tat. We did a small part of the South West Coastal Walk from here to Sennen Cove.

A fossicker with metal detector heading to the beach at St Ives towards the end of the day.

Had to leave the car on the edge of the town and catch shuttle bus into the town centre. Full of tourists wandering around- just like us. Lots of shops selling ice cream & fudge & cornish pasties & surf paraphernalia.

For John - Newlyn, Cornwall. If it's not a suburb of Penzance it's a twin town as close as Hepburn is to Daylesford.

A fine Cornish & Daylesford name.

House & garden at Cotehele. This was the first property (owned by the Edgecumbe family) which the National Trust acquired in lieu of death duties. Lovely garden, house not too big, but very austere & dark. Also has a port down the hill on the Tamar river and a working flour mill in another corner of the property.

Viaduct in Tamar valley near Cotehele.