Bolsover Castle to Dover
Working our way down from Northern England towards Dover, ready to cross over to France. This was a relaxed week full of catchups with friends and clean ups of Betsy (and us, LOL). Don’t forget to check out our weekly wrap on youtube for more pics and video footage.
June 5
We made our way down towards Midlands to catchup with a friend we met in Wales. Ahead of time we passed a sign to Bolsover castle and decided to pull in. This is part of our English Heritage Pass. Boy, are we glad we did.
What a find, initially we parked in a 40 minute park. It was the only one we could find and some of the castles we have been to, that would of been enough time. Being warned by locals that the parking inspector is a little over zealous, we were watching our watches like hawks. Nothing like a 90 pound penalty to keep you punctual!
We were nowhere near done at 40 minutes and as we handed in our audio
tours we explained we did not want to leave yet but had to move the car. The lovely lady explained there is additional parking down the road, sharp right down a small lane.
So we moved Betsy and went back!
Aristocrat William Cavendish who was an avid horse lover and loved to entertain lived in Bolsover Castle. He had an indoor dressage arena complete with viewing docks and stables at the castle.
The castle replaced a medieval hilltop fortress. It begun in 1612 by Sir Charles Cavendish, his son William who was a bit of a playboy furnished it.
Bolsover Castle was fantastic!
Stand outs on the tour are Élysium Closet’ with a painted ceiling and frieze of naked Classical gods or the interactive ‘cabinets of curiosity’ reveal how the rooms were used.
The audio visual tour, the best we have found by far in England, made this is a fantastic stop for adults and kids alike.
Miss B was rapt to find a kids commentary complete with the lighter side of castle living and fun facts. Made even more funny by the fact we found this because Brett selected it by mistake and mid way through the tour laughed over an apparent ‘fart’ joke and we established there were different commentaries!
On weekends between April -September you can watch riders in 17th 
century attire give a performance of ‘classical dressage’ which takes the horses and riders years to learn. We missed that but if headed that way, we would go again!
From there we drove to our friends house caught up for a few hours and then drove back to Rochford to my best friends house arriving late at night.
A worthy note for other roadtrippers, on the main highway if you pass a Roadchef, they often offer showers free of charge.
June 6 – 10
What do you do on a glorious sunny day while visiting with friends/family in England? You wash of course! We spent these few days, washing sheets, towels, clothes and us of course! Refilled a gas bottle, culled a little more out of Betsy we did not use or want for our upcoming trip to Europe.
We had more than a few drinks, movies and talks, something that anyone with a best friend who moves to the other side of the world will understand is precious!
Also caught up on photos (Brett is a crazy organised filing freak!) I did some work and Miss B got some time in on online school websites that require internet.
And left on the 10 June to Dover in readiness to board the Ferry to Calais in the morning.
Dover Castle
Dover Castle is another fantastic, not to be missed castle. Mainly due to the tours (included in admission) like the ones we did, Operation Dynamo in the Wartime Tunnels where you see, hear and feel the danger as the 1940 evacuation of troops from Dunkirk is brought to life.
The underground Hospital tour where you see, hear AND smell World War II is fantastic. No cameras or video, due to ummmm copyright!?!
We will no dou
bt re-visit this castle to do a little more when we return.
There is plenty of reading opportunities for your worldschoolers and some great exhibits showing what it would of been like in the Great Tower.
It is an expensive castle to visit without the English Heritage Pass. As we have the pass, we love the flexibility of being able to go back when we want, knowing we are back in September.
It is a lot to take in for kids in one visit and sometimes by breaking it up, talking about it at camp/home and then revisiting they get a lot more out of it.
June 11
Early to rise this morning and onto the P&O Ferry. Very organised, arrive an hour before your planned departure or you 
can lose your ticket/ride.
We were very excited to be able to see the White Cliffs of Dover by water. 
More detail in youtube weekly wrap.
Driving off the Ferry we both said, remember we are now on the other side of the road!
As we drove out of the Ferry terminal we immediately recognised the security fencing and razor wire atop it, very unlike in Dover. This was obviously here last year when we came but as we arrived by the tunnel I do not remember it being so in your face. Footage in weekly wrap on youtube.
When in France..
We immediately drove to the nearest Carrefour shopping centre and bought Red Wine, Baguettes, President cheese, Pate and Lemon Tarts. What can I say we like our food! (and not to mention the price compared to UK)
As we knew we were only in France for one night this was very important!
Happy little vegemites and with all our supplies we pulled up at our wild camping spot for the night at Dunkirk.
Dunkirk
What a spot! It was windy but that is what jackets are for. We continued our discussions with Miss B on what 
happened on the beach when over 350,000 soldiers were rescued in 1940.
We went for a 
walk along the beach and amongst the dunes looking at the old bunkers that lay in varying conditions.
Taking the opportunity to show Miss B where the soldiers had tried to hide in 1940 before being rescued, which we had seen some videos of, on our tour at Dover Castle the day be
fore.
The Bunkers have graffiti and various damage to the structures.
One has been covered in mirrors, which I can only assume they want us to ‘reflect’ on the events that happened here.
Lots of action from walkers, runners, kite surfers and sand surfing and various other healthy activities all along the beach till after 9pm at night.
Got to love the sun being up for so long.
Tomorrow we cross the border into Belgium….
What did we take
If you are interested in what we took, electronics, kitchen and all things we needed for the duration of our roadtrip click here. (we are slowly adding each week as we have data/time)
Having done a three and half month roadtrip in South Europe in 2017 and Northern Europe Roadtrip in 2018 we were pretty confident in what we would need’this time. Also, what worked and what we would not bother taking again.
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Happy Travels… until next week
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