By Dan
Monday 2nd of April 2018
We went down to Dover for the Easter long weekend. We caught the National Express for £9 each and were dropped in the town centre. Dover itself is a bit shit, sadly. The town suffered from recessions and the building of the undersea tunnel meant that many jobs were lost from the diminishing of the ferry industry. Our host, Joan, also told us about the underlying drug problem that no one wants to deal with. A sad story for a town that was once considered the forefront of England.
We caught a cab to the tiny town of Guston, a few miles out of Dover. And we settled into the pub to wait for Joan to get home and let us into our rooms. We didn’t mind though. We sat ourselves down on the comfiest chairs in the cosiest corner and slowly built up our tab. Joan finally arrived and let us in. She was lovely. It was like we were coming home. Joan mothered us almost as much as she mothered her two cats George and Sophie, Duchess of Guston. Both of them came from the same litter and were 19 years old. But that didn’t stop George, who was a bit of a tart, from always looking for a pat or a lap to drool on.
None of us minded.
We spent the next few days reading, playing chess, eating, drinking and exploring the surrounding countryside. I didn’t want this post to be huge so I’ve just created a list of all the things that we did and are worth doing.
- Visit Deal. This is the nicer more opulent younger brother to Dover. With many of the properties owned by Londoners, the place has a faster flowing economy and a bustling high street free of all those pesky social problems you’ll find in Dover.
- Walk along the White Cliffs from Dover to Deal. This is a good 15 kays of hiking. But it’s worth it. Even if it’s a semi shitty day.
- Stop at St. Margarets Bay and eat at the Coastguard. Good food, good beer and you’ll get some cheeky reception from the French. Now, unlike us, you won’t panic and think you’ve been walking for 3 hours instead of 2.
- Keep going to Deal. You’re almost there. Only 8 more kilometres…
- Get a coffee at Pop-Up Cafe and/or a beer at The Ship Inn.
- Visit the Saturday Market, but not on Sunday.
- Visit Sandwich. Thomas Paine lived here (he wrote part of the US constitution, not the gun part), the sandwich was also invented here.
- Get Dinner at the Indian restaurant, Namaste. Seriously. This is good Indian food.
- Get a beer and lunch at the Chance Inn in Guston. Then stay for dinner.
- And of course, stay with our lovely friend, Joan.
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/18697212 - Don’t forget to get a photo of Banksy’s Brexit mural on the way out of Dover. Or at least try desperately to get a photo while on the other side of the bus and miserably fail.