We left Gatwick on the 23rd by train into London Bridge where we boarded another train…..this time to Dover. The areas we travelled through are much more rural but every now and again you see wall to wall roofs and walls that butt up to one another. 

Dover is quite lovely and where our hotel is right across the road from the beach. Beach means something entirely different than what I am used to especially the ones you go to lay on a towel and soak up the sun. This is not a sand beach but is made up of small rocks…. much like Brighton Beach when I saw it back in 2011. 

I decided to do a good walk along the walking & bike path toward the piers where there is a small cruise ship much the same size as an Oceania ship. This one is apparently a P&O. Across on the other side of the harbour are piers with ferries coming and going. I believe they all go to Calais, France, with lots of freight trucks. In between there are lots of people distance swimming, paddle boarding, racing skulls, etc. 

After walking to the cruise ship pier , I walked through trails on way to town to make a couple of purchases. In town, old buildings ….. not ancient but still old with kids and adults using the parks. Everywhere you go one can see the famous Dover castle. It is humongous. Next time I would like to do of tour of it. Also, we heard that there was a ship from the. Bronze Age that had been recovered. That would be something to see. 

The other thing that Dover is famous for…… the “White Cliffs of Dover”. Yes, they are white, very white…. made from fossilized sea creatures/shells billions of years old. 

July 24/26

Today we taxi to the pier 2 for boarding the HAL Nieuw Statendam. For those of you that don’t know, we are travelling to Rotterdam, have 3 stops in Norway, 7 in Iceland, 4 in Greenland, 1 in the Faroe Islands, 3 in Scotland and back to Dover (including watching the solar eclipse) ….in 28 days.