Dover and Canterbury

Today it was England's south east. Spent a couple of hours merging and changing from one motorway to another in a blur of road numbers and route instructions, but eventually we found ourselves in Dover which was very reassuring as that's where we wanted to be.

Had a look at the town (well at least the coffee shops) before we walked down to the seafront and around the docks to view the bedlam. There were about 6 or 7 ships loading or unloading at any one time, each with a continuous line of cars getting on (or off), and another continuous line of trucks doing the same. We also counted another 4 ships out in the channel either arriving or departing, so it's certainly a big operation.

Took some shots of Dover Castle and the White Cliffs Of Dover from the port, and looked at where the tunnels and fortifications came out through the face of the cliff from within the hill, before we hopped back into the car and drove to the park at the top of the cliffs. A lovely, sunny day, but still too much haze and mist to see France which was a little anti-climactic. However, it was still a great sight, and completed the three major corners of Great Britain for us this trip - John O'Groats in the north, Land's End in the south west, and Dover in the south east.

Drove on the short distance to Canterbury, and again utilised a 'Park and Ride' to get to the centre of the city. Found that the Big Mac Index was AU$6.75 which was surprising for two reasons - firstly it's way cheaper than when we were here last (due no doubt to the exchange rate), and secondly it's now cheaper than in Melbourne (though only by a few cents).

Toured Canterbury Cathedral which was great. They even detected our accent at the door, and gave us a special pamphlet with the location and history of people and artifacts that had a connection to Australia (Governor Gipps, Blaxland etc). Saw where the choir sings at Christmas, and went down into the crypt and through the cloisters. Particularly impressive were the tombs of Henry IV and the Black Prince, complete with his armor.

Walked through King's College and down to the city wall before heading home for dinner and the evening with the Brinks.