We departed from St. Leonard's where we were so comfortably based for the last couple of days. It is so nice to touch base with your best mates after years of separation. Thank you guys, for your generous hospitality!
As was pointed out to us, one of the best features of this house is the fact that it has two living rooms. This is the second of the living rooms, as seen from the outside:
From there, through some lovely English countryside
to the Battle of Britain Memorial, at Capel-le-Ferne.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
The central feature of the memorial is the statue of an airman, watching and waiting for enemy attack. His Irvin jacket disguises both nationality and rank, these being unimportant. For the same reason,
Memorial Wall reveals neither rank nor decoration.
Unit insignia embellish the boss of the great prop that forms the base of the statue.
Watched over by Dowding and Park, the unidentified airman waits to defend this shore again, should the need ever arise.
After we departed, past replica Spitfire and Hurricane gate guards,
and on our way into Dover, I imagined I could hear a Merlin engine, and at the same instant Derek said "What's that?", pointing out an aeroplane flying overhead. You will probably laugh, but I could have sworn it was a Spitfire!
We thought it would be nice to have a look at Dover Castle,
but baulked at the £20+ price of admission, and at the huge crowd. So we set our sights on the White Cliffs of Dover. This is the road Google recommended we take the BMW down, but we decided to walk it instead.
Which is why we discovered that the entire area was full of bushes bearing large amounts of ripening blackberries! Alas, I tried some, and they were not too sweet. Another few days on the vine, perhaps?
As we exited this path, I heard a noise, and looking up... it was a Spitfire! Unmistakable! It approached, did an Immelmann turn, and sped off, back the way it came!
Later, we saw it again, at higher altitude, speeding away from the area. In both instances, it was there and gone so fast, I couldn't get my camera out in time.
But finally, we came upon the South Foreland Light.
From here it was a stone's throw to the cliffs themselves.
It wasn't all that cold out on the edge of the cliff, but the wind was blowing very fiercely. So much so that I kept well away from the edge, not getting any closer than three or four feet back from the drop.
The gusts were enough to make you stagger. And that isn't something you want to do on uneven ground, near a precipice!
The white cliffs go on for miles, but we got to see at least some of them. And here is Derek, standing at the top. Behind him are the Straits of Dover, and very faintly visible, if you zoom and use your imagination a bit, is France.
We could see it clearly, but the images show only a faint gray discoloration on the horizon.
After the chill wind on the cliff tops, we retired to Mrs Knott's Tea-Room where I had a pot of tea using real leaves (no nasty bags at Mrs Knott's!), as well as a scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves. (It's OK, I have it on prescription.) The period furniture and wallpaper were set off by the strains of Very Lynn:
There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover
Playing on the gramophone!
Charming!
From there to Margate, where we strolled upon the seafront (stinky because of all the green goo exposed by low tide)
Had a coffee in a seafront cafe (right next door to Peter's Fish factory where people were lining up for shellfish),
and admired the beach made of actual sand.
We also got a couple of iced cream cones from two girls who were very pleasant, despite having greeny-blue hair and dayglo-orange hair respectively.
Then, off through Canterbury where we caught a glimpse of the famous cathedral, which was guarded by five thousand tourists and their cars,
And so, to our abode for the night, in Ardleigh, in a thatched, Elizabethan Tudor cottage,
with half-timbered bedrooms and head-bangingly low beams. Avoided any headaches so far, but there is still tomorrow.
Went out for a wonderful Indian meal at the Bengal Diner. Superb! Been waiting three weeks for this meal, and had the works: Onion Bhaji, Poppadom, Chicken Celon with Mushroom Rice Pelau, Nan bread, Chapati... All fabulous.
And so, time for bed!
