Sandwich is a really old town with lots of historic Tudor buildings. There was a folk festival, on which included market stalls, live music and their annual duck race. It was lots of fun. We paid one pound each for a numbered yellow rubber duck. First prize was 500 pounds and then there were three other prizes. The organisers tipped a huge container filled with hundreds of ducks over a bridge, (just the ducks), they then raced their way downstream until the winning ducks crossed the finish line. Hundreds of people lined the edge of the river, in anticipation. People even bought whistles shaped like a yellow ducks beak, that made quacking sounds. It was all really exciting, until some silly man, drove his motorboat down the canal. He saw the ducks and drove through them all, much to the shock of onlookers. Then when he was not allowed to cross the boon that was the finish line he drove back through them again, running some over in the process. The crowd couldnt believe it, he could have just waited and let the ducks run their journey! It was after all an annual race that he had just intercepted - imagine if he did that to the olympics!
After the duck race, we headed off to the market square, where we ate hot chips and pickled eggs. We listened to some of the music, and then uncle nobby and aunty cindy took us to Margate. At Margate there is a beach and some amusement arcades- which had the 2p machines! We played and won and played until we had lost, but once again as it was only 2p's we didnt splash out a whole lot. Uncle Nobby and Aunty Cindy gave Josh, Dillon and Dom ten quid each so they were all happy. After the arcades we went for a bit of a walk along the beach. Uncle Nobby attempted to discourage us from walking barefoot, but we are kiwis... until we realised why Uncle Nobby was discouraging us - there was lots of broken glass on the sand.
We had diner in a chain restaurant called Weather-spoons and then headed back to Folkestone. Deriving back we were able to look out of the window, and see the streetlights of Calais out on the Horizon. It was amazing. So close to our next destination that we could see it just sitting there on the other side of the English Channel.
On Tuesday we drove over to Aunty Angies in Dover, and visited Dover Castle with her. The castle was amazing, incredible.. Not only was it standing- no in ruins- the rooms had been set up to portray early life in the time of King Henry II. There were bedrooms, and different sorts of quarters. In some rooms they had open fires blazing. We were able to climb to the roof of the castle, which provided magnificent views all around. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see the coast of France, but otherwise the views were great.
We were able to go down into some underground tunnels, and view the tunnels that were used as a hospital during the war. The tunnels were really well set up, Not only was it possible to see what it would have been like as a hospital in 1940, but they also had certain smells in rooms to give a real sense of what it would have been like. The guide explained that there were 3.4 miles of tunnels where we were - although we only walked for about 20 minutes through the tunnels. Once we finished in the hospital tunnels we queued up for the secret wartime hidden tunnels. They were built in 1940 for the war. The presentations in these tunnels were amazing. First we went and sat in a bunker and listened to the prime minister send a wartime message. The lights were dim, and flickered on and off as air raid sirens went off. We then went down to a subterranean bomb proof bunker - allegedly the only one of its kind in Britain. We werent allowed to take any photos- due to crown copyright! But we had a great time nonetheless. We went into the tunnels where the plans for the escape from Dunkirk were first planned. Dominique learnt so much. They had overhead projections on the tunnels, telling the story of the escape from Dunkirk. It was really really well done, and we were left feeling really impressed with Dover Castle. Josh and Dillon stayed the night with Chris, and me and Dom went home to a yummy chicken Tagliatelle cooked by uncle nobby.
On Wednesday I sorted stuff in the morning in preparation for our trip to Europe. We wont take too much with us, so that we have room in the van as back up if necessary. I ordered our Euros online and will collect them a few hours before we head under the Channel.
In the afternoon we all headed off to Dymchurch beach and the amusement arcades. There was us, Uncle Nobby, Aunty Cindy, Ash, Ester, Tegan and Chris, and loads of 2p machines! hahaha they are so much fun just a few quid and you are in there a couple of hours. I scored a couple of Dymchurch magnets, to add to my collection of souvenir magnets, so was happy. Josh was a bit disappointed for a bit that he wasnt winning on the fruit machines, and Dillon and Uncle Nobby had. Then he won a fiver, and then another fiver, he was really happy then.
We had dinner in Dymchurch and then we headed off to the Mayfly near Folkestone. It was a pub with a restaurant where they have , "Rock n Roll Bingo". It was lots of fun. Eight of us around a table, with our drinks, and a fun atmosphere. You paid £1 per card and had to get a line or a full house. A line won a bottle of wine, and a full house won ten quid. Dillon got a full house on the first card, which fuelled everyones excitement. We didnt get anything else, but we had a fantastic time! Instead of numbers on your card there were the names of songs, and artists who sang them. Instead of numbers they would play clips of songs for about 20 seconds and then if you had it you would mark it off. Dominique came away with a rock n roll bingo polo shirt, and was happy with herself. As it all wrapped up they announced the date of the next game- 3rd October- hahaha the day after we return to England. We will be staying at aunty angies then, but she lives near here too, so am looking forward to playing one more time.
After the games finished we headed out to the car, which Uncle Nobby had parked so wisely in the supermarket carpark, lol. The shop was closed and the barrier arms pulled down across the exit and chained together! Hahahah we were stuck for a little while but eventually managed to get out. We have had lots of fun here in Folkestone, less than 24 hours left though.
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