Castle Keep

Yesterday, we went to Dover Castle, which almost turned out to be a mistake.

We took the precaution before we left of trying to find out if the Castle were open (it being Good Friday) and if there were any Special Events that might clog up the car parks. Not finding any contra-indications to our visit, we thought it safe to set off.

Hah.

Husband has never forgiven the Castle for kicking up a fuss when he tried to take a bunch of his students there. Apparently there was some confusion between the college where he then worked (which prepares overseas students for entry into British universities) and the related (and similarly-named) TEFL college. "Ordinary" students get in free or heavily-discounted (I forget which) but TEFL students have to pay. Cue a long argument at the gate about which kind of students his were.

Not to mention the time we went there with a guest and they dumped us in an overspill car park. Or the time when the lighthouse was closed for no readily apparent reason. They have a history of pissing him off.

So, what happened when we turned up at the long drive up the hill towards this truly impressive symbol of British military might? Despite the total lack of any information on the matter on the official English Heritage website, it appears that the Castle Keep is closed at least until August this year.

Sometimes I wonder what organisations such as EH think their website is FOR. It's not for having just because everyone else has one. It's for Handing Out Information. Seriously. Try it sometime.

We conferred, and decided to persist, because, well, the Keep is only a small part of the castle, and we've been round it before, and we'd come all that way, and husband had a new camera he wanted to try out. So we drove on up to the car parks. Were directed where to park. And then...well.

Husband couldn't get the car in straight on the first try. Next to us was a car parked with people faffing around unloading stuff and kids, so husband quite rightly decided to stay put until they were out of the way before doing any more manoeuvring.

At which point the jobsworth "security" guy who'd directed us where to park came and told him to straighten up the car.

It's a small thing, I know, which is why I've gone into the history of why this might have Royally Pissed Him Off. Which it did. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only reason he didn't drive off right there and then was he didn't want to disappoint me. And it was a lovely day. And...shiny new camera.

The long wait to buy tickets didn't help his mood, either. But it was a beautiful day and there's a lot to explore, and when we went to the Admiralty Lookout, we found they'd opened up All New Bits of the Castle We Hadn't Seen Before.

So we got to look around the small, concretey and faintly musty rooms from where the lookouts surveyed all the shipping coming into Dover Harbour during WWII, not to mention keeping an eye out for aircraft. They had a special set of "donkey ears" binoculars that enabled them to take a close look at anything sailing into the harbour. They had a special telescope that gave them the range and position of ships, which meant the batteries mounted on the pier walls could fire at where the ship was "going to be". Very neat. Communication was by ASDIC, Morse, flag signals and telephone.

We had lunch, and pottered around, and raided the Keep Shop. They had a sale on books, so I picked up one about Roman Gardens to complement my recently-acquired book about The Medieval Garden. Husband pointed to this fun-but-probably-for-kids book, which was NOT in the sale, Roman Soldier's Handbook, and of course there was this book (also not in the sale), Mosaics in Roman Britain, and so it turned out to be an expensive day out after all. Ulp.

Much fun was however had. Sunburning happened. Once we reached the point where we suspected that any more climbing the castle's hills might lead to a night spent sleeping in the open, we moved on to spend a little time at the Rommey, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. More experiments with the new camera, a Nice Hot Cup of Tea, and then, as the weather closed in and the light went, we drove home.

No, I didn't buy any books at Dymchurch Station, since you ask....