Saturday 16th March 2024

At some point, I had to push my knee further.

So it was on Saturday we agreed to go to Dover Castle, not too far if I became "lame".

Up at six, with it being not just light outside, but the sun rose just gone six, and it felt like it was going to be a great spring day.

I went to Tesco, we didn't need much, and with Jools only working three days next week, we have enough frozen meals for her lunches.

Tesco was pretty empty, so I rush round getting the stuff we needed, and some stuff not on the list, then back home for quarter to eight to pack away the gatherings and have breakfast of fruit. Spanish strawberries have now appeared, and some are tasty as well as juicy, so we have a big bowl of fruit and more coffee before it was time to go to the castle for when it opened.

What we didn't know was that this weekend is where folks who play the lottery or scratchcards could use an old lottery ticket to gain free entry to English Heritage or National Trust properties as a thanks for for grants from the lottery fund.

This would mean it would be crazy crowded.

This we found when we arrived at the turn off on Castle Hill to the castle, the queue of traffic leading all the way down, waiting for the ten o'clock opening.

More joined the queue behind us, this did not feel normal.

But once we were allowed in, we all took a parking slot, then walked to the entrance, we flashed our new membership cards, and walked up the slope to the Keep and the church.

St Mary in Castro looks quite modern, and inside is mostly Victorian, but there are signs it is older. In fact it is Saxon, though until the middle of the 19th century was ruinous, so was repaired as to how it now appears.

The arches and windows are clearly Saxon, though little else remains.

I took shots of the windows, arches and some fittings with the big lens, but by then others had arrived at the church, so having got my shots, we left.

And further decided to go back to the castle a less busy day, so walked down to the main area in front of the Keep and then back down to the car park, where all spaces were now full, and more cars arriving every minute.

It only takes five minutes to drive home, where it was time for a brew, and a day of relaxing ahead, with the strong possibility for me of 10 (ten) hours of sport, though in the end I bailed on the late England v France rugby match as Ireland won the Grand Slam.

At three, Norwich played Stoke, on a sunny afternoon, and romped to a fine 3-0 win, thus strengthening our claim to sixth place in the table, but a long way to go yet.

On the tellybox then was Fulham v Spurs, in which Spurs went all Spursy and lost 3-0, but it could have been worse.