CHATHAM DOCKYARD

There has been a bit of a pause in blogging while we have had the computer reformatted as we were sick of waiting 15 minutes for it to boot up. Of course the data which I thouht I had backed up didn't get done because we subsequently found that the CD rom drive was cactus.Ho bloody hum! Bought an external drive to remedy that situation and then found that the Wireless network card was corrupted and spent some time sorting that out. Computers are wonderful things for using up spare time.
And all this time the rotator cuff injury that your's truly suffered from the fall in Norway back at Christmas is not responding to physio and painful nights are the result.But as they say, press on regardless and forget about golf for a few more months!

And so to Chatham Dockyards, an excellent display of the 400 year old history of this site where ships have been built and serviced over the years. We started off in the Life Boat museum which was first class. There were many actual lifeboats on display all beautifully maintained by a volunteer group of people. The record of lives saved, and lost, was a dramatic reminder of the service that these volunteer crews perform day in and day out.

Then on to a 19th century gunboat which is almost completely restored, and with a wonderful audio guide invoked the history of British Colonial power of the time.Apart from the cramped conditions in which the crews lived, there was a real sense of England exerting its authority on the colonies demonstrated. It must have been a bit awesome to see this thing arriving at a troublespot with marines on board and big cannons bristling threatenly.

The next exhibit was the last remaining Naval destroyer from WW2 the HMS Cavalier. As it is the official monument of those magnificent ships and their men, it is allowed to fly the white ensign. Again, the audio gave a great summary of the conditions and history of this ship, and it was suprising to find that the bridge, from where the ship was commanded, was in fact open to the elements. As the ship's history included escorting convoys on the run to Russia, one can only admire the men who stood or sat there in freezing conditions, totally exposed to the elements and battling gale force Artic winds.

A quick stop for lunch was a disaster. The Bridge cafe can only be described as dreadful.After half an hour waiting for our ordered tomato soup, we finally received a bowl of turgid crap with tough pieces of bread. Other suckers had ordered toasted sandwiches which arrived looking like pieces of rock served with potato chips and which, like our meal, were mostly left untouched on the plates. We actually wrote out complaints about it when we left the Dockyards and found that this was no surprise to the Manager!!I need hardly add that it is a franchise operation!

An inspection of the Ropery was the final part of our visit, and luckily we were just in time for a guided tour which was particulalry well done by a costumed "Mill Girl" who educated us into the mechanics of rope production. This included an actual
manufacture of a piece of rope.

As we walked our way to the exit we came across the resident steam train which (driven by volunteers) was pushing a large crane along the lines round the docks. The crane had decided that it did not want to stay on the tracks on a gentle bend and had gone straight ahead and naturally become derailed. The poor old volunteers were trying to jack this bloody great crane up so that they could get it back on track, but we didn't have the heart or the time, to watch their endeavours!!

The entry tickets are valid for 12 months and we intend to return soon to finish off the tour by visiting the Marine Museum.