The Amazing Race Part II: Hastings to Dover

Day Two of The Amazing Race. On the face of it, it didn't seem nearly as complicated as Day One. Just moving up the east coast slighly. Only one train transfer. No London Underground days before the Olympics open. Here's how it played out.

Route Info: Travel from Hastings via train inland to Ashford International Station. Transfer to express train to Dover. Must arrive in time to check in at guest house, leave luggage, and find way to Dover Castle and tour Secret Wartime Tunnels before they close at 5:00 PM.

Speed Bump: Guest house confirmation documentation notes check-in time begins at 4:00 PM.

Road Block: Although we arrived at guest house by noon, no one was there!

Fast Forward: Guest house manager arrived by 12:45 PM, and not only checked us in, but, due to a cancellation, gave us a much larger room!

Speed Bump: Condition and cleanliness of guest house are questionable.

Fast Forward: We drop bags and leave guest house immediately in search of Dover Castle and don't return until it's getting dark and no longer safe for two woman alone on the streets of a very questionable section of Dover!

The castle is in sight, but it's all uphill! Plenty of time, though.

Nearly there.

Stunning views from this high up. The water's green/blue tint took me by surprise. Almost Mediterranean.

A commanding view of Dover Harbor and across to France from Admiralty Look-out,

a World War I command post.

Somehow, Dover Castle still feels ready to defend itself.

We made it!

On a hilltop where an Iron Age hill fort once stood, King Henry II built Dover Castle in the 1180s. It's a remarkable complex of buildings and tunnels that was continuously militarily reinvented and repurposed for over 800 years, always protecting the English coast.

A Roman pharos (lighthouse), dating to 46 AD, is on the castle grounds, too!

This is one of three believed to remain in the world.

Quick! Enter before they pull up the drawbridge!

Henry II's Great Tower

Deciding if they will let us enter!

The recently restored Banqueting Hall.

A grand bed chamber fit for a king. Henry, that is.

Such bright colors. Didn't I see this in the IKEA catalog?

The Tower's Chapel Royal.

Our timing was perfect, as this lovely illumination shows.

The medieval tunnels under the castle were built to improve its defences after a siege in 1216-17. In 1939 they were converted to an air raid shelter and then a military command center and hospital. "Operation Dynamo," or the Dunkirk evacuation, was devised here in 1940. The Secret Wartime Tunnels have only been open to the public for a few years.

A bit more space than one might imagine, but still fairly close quarters.

Pit Stop: As luck would have it, we took a different route back down the hill and discovered The White Horse Inn. The building itself dates to 1365, when it was built as a residence for the Churchwarden of St James' Church next door, which was sadly bombed out during WWII. It remained in the church's possession until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. In 1574 it became home to Dover's ale taster and for the next 55 years was the home of the lucky folk to hold this post, with duties including "checking on the quality of ale and on unlawful measures." The ale taster also had the responsibility of "reporting anyone who kept a disorderly house." (He could have had his own show on HGTV!) In 1652, it received its first license to sell ale and cider, and the rest is history. A delicious meal and cold beverage (When in Rome!) beckoned from the back garden patio.

Road Block: Scary guest house!

Next up...The Amazing Race Part III: Dover to St Albans.

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