Coast – Maldo Travels

Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove

Jean Maldonado — Sat, 18 May 2019 21:50:00 +0000

Found on the Jurrasic Coast between Weymouth and Bournemouth, a day trip to Durdle Door is best done by car. I tried looking up routes by public transport from London but it involved several trains and over 4 hours of travel as opposed to a 2-hour 45-minute drive. There is plenty of parking available at the park entrance. In the parking area, there is a stall selling food and drink with several benches around. From the car park, there are several signposted trails. We set out on the one leading down to Durdle Door, and after about 5 minutes, you’ll get a view of the beach behind the arch from the cliffs. Another 10 minutes of walking down and we got to the other side with a view of the arch and the view beach.

The weather wasn’t on our side but the views were still great. Some steps lead to the beach and it took us about 5 minutes to get down. It’s a stone beach and although it’s possible to bathe in the water, the water temperature is freezing. The white cliffs have several small caves in the which have been formed by the sea. We spent about 30 minutes walking by the beach before heading back up and on the trail to Lulworth Cove.

It took us about an hour to walk there at a slow pace and making several stops. On the walk, you’ll get scenic views of the town and the coastline from the cliffs. The small town has several ice cream shops that use local dairy products to make their ice creams. We walked around the stone shores for about an hour, looking around for fossils. We then made our way back to the Durdle Door car park to head back home.

Walmer and Deal – Coastline Castles

Jean Maldonado — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 21:23:00 +0000

It is possible to take a train to these castles but the train times aren’t that frequent, so we rented a car for these visits. From London, it’s about a 2-hour drive here and only 15 minutes from Dover. We first drove to Walmer Castle and there is parking available at the site. Tickets cost 12.60 GBP¹ or free with an English Heritage membership. An audio guide is included with the ticket which gives you access to the castle and the gardens. There are several information panels with numbers that you input into the audio guide. This castle was part of a chain of artillery castles that King Henry VIII had built to fortify the coastline. He feared attacks from a new alliance between France, Spain, and the Pope after he broke away from the Catholic Church to create the Protestant church. Since then, the castle has been converted into a stately-home. You can see how the furnished rooms have been transformed to create a more comfortable residence. Several Lord Wardens have added improvements over time and it was once used by Duke Wellington. There’s a room with some of his history and also the room he died in has been kept the way it was on the day. You can also step outside to explore the gardens. We went in winter so the garden wasn’t as pretty as it must be in summer. It took us about two hours to complete our tour of Walmer Castle and we were done around 1 PM.

To get to Deal Castle, it’s a short 5-minute drive up the coast and there is also parking available next to the site. Tickets cost 7.90 GBP or free with an English Heritage membership. This is another artillery castle by King Henry VII but this one has been transformed into a museum. The entire castle is open for you to explore on a self-guided tour with the audio guide included with the ticket. At this castle you can learn a lot more about the 16th-century defense system. An interesting part of the castle is wandering through underground perimeter passageways below the castle. There are wellies available for you to put on as it can get muddy. You can complete the visit in about an hour so we were done at around 2.30 PM.

Dover Castle – Coastal Defense

Jean Maldonado — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 20:37:00 +0000

This is one of my favorite day trips from London so whenever family or friends visit, I take them to this castle. It’s possible to visit via public transport from London by taking a train to Dover Priory station. From St Pancras International, it takes about 1 hour 15 minutes. You can then walk for 30 minutes or take a bus which leaves you at the bottom of the castle hill. By car, it’s about a 1-hour 45-minute drive and there’s parking available at the site. Tickets then cost 21.30 GBP¹ or it’s free with an English Heritage membership. The ticket includes guided tours of the war tunnels which for me, are the highlights of the visit.

The car park is located inside the site next to the ticket office. From the ticket office, it’s a short walk down to the WW2 war tunnels which you should make your first stop. Tours leave every 15 minutes and last about 50 minutes. There are 2 tours, one is of the underground hospital which is an immersive experience. You follow the story of a rescued shot-down pilot who has been brought in for an operation. The layout of the tunnel, sounds, and even smells have been re-created to how they would have been during the war. This is one of my favorite tours of any museum/site I’ve visited. The other tour is of the war tunnels used for WW2 Operation Dynamo. In this tour, you’re taken through the military evacuation operation of allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. Projections of real film footage and dramatizations with special effects bring this event to life. This tour ends in the restaurant/gift shop and there is a small museum area with artifacts above. Also, you can step outside to a balcony-like area that has panoramic views of the seaside.

Following this, you can walk along the castle walls towards the Great Tower. On the way, you can take a small detour to the Medieval tunnels which were used to defend the castle. There’s not a tour for these tunnels but there are several information panels to guide you through the route. Once you come back up from the tunnels, you can then walk across to the tower gate to get to the Great Tower. This medieval palace built by King Henry II has several artifacts throughout with information panels. You can ascend all the way to the roof which has great views of the city. In the surrounding buildings, there are also some self-guided tours of the royal courts. Following this, you can then walk down to the ruins of the Roman lighthouse and the working church of Anglo-Saxon origin. For me, this is usually where I end the day and head back. There are however a couple of other sites such as PWRR Museum which has some history of the regiments. There is also the WW1 Fire Command Post with the only working British 3 inch gun which was used to shoot down warplanes. Overall, Dover Castle is well organized and has produced great tours to experience history.