England - Corfe Castle and Swanage - July 2007 - About 30 miles west of here is a little town called Corfe Castle. As the name would suggest, it was named after the castle. Sadly, this castle is now in ruins. As you'll see by the scaffolding, they were working on restoring the old castle. Not to make the castle new again (as you'll see, it's way past that) but to ensure that the existing parts of the castle remain intact.

This picture is from inside the first set of gates.

We're now looking at the main out section of the castle.

Not only has the poor castle had to deal with invasions, but it's also had to deal with time and gravity.

Looking back at the above picture, when we were at the castle, I didn't notice it, but the left side has slipped down the hill a good 12 feet. I'd originally just thought that the two sections had just cracked apart and slipped a couple feet.

We are now by the top of the castle.

Here is the view that they would have enjoyed. If you look on the far left, you'll see the steam train which will take us (more on that below) to Swanage. At the station, there are dual tracks, but after the train leaves Cofre Castle, the tracks narrow into a single track. Since they can't have two trains on the track on the same time (too many crashes) what they now do is when a train leaves one station, it takes the key that allows the points to be opened. When the train gets to the other station, the key is passed and only then, can another train pass onto the tracks.

In 1139, there was a second castle built close to where we're standing now (you probably know what's coming up). The second castle was built for King Stephen, who attempted to capture Corfe Castle from the supporters of his cousin the Empress Matilda. Over the next little bit, they hurtled boulders and other heavy objects at the castle, until it eventually was destroyed. Seems like a shame. Why can't we just get along?

Here is Seth and me admiring the view of the castle and (the town of) Corfe castle. In about the middle of the picture, you can just see where the train station is (look for the puff of smoke).
Scroll to the right to see the entire picture.

Just infront of where Seth and I are now, we found a little grass snake (hopefully it was a grass snake). It didn't hang around long enough for us to ask it. Amazingly quick, considering it's lack of feet.

After treking around the castle, we decided to take the train from Corfe Castle to Swanage. It was a bit of a wait. The guy at the end of the bench was 23 when he started waiting.

Here is one of the steam trains that we could take from Swanage to Cofre Castle (and continue up the coast). When the train reaches Swanage, it's uncoupled, put on a spinning wheel, spun around, and reattached. Just like you did when you were 5 with your train set, but on a much bigger scale. I think that everyone is volunteer that work on the railway. You really have to admire their dedication to their hobby. One train that we've been on was completely restored by the Army Engineering Corps in their spare time. They'd do their normal army work, and then continue working on a steam engine.

Here's a little closer picture (taken from the top of the castle). Chuggy puff, chuggy puff!

Here comes our train. The good thing about these trains, is that you can hear them for miles, so you can be a little ways away before you have to get to the station.

Here's our train to take us to Swanage with the Castle in the background.

We've arrived at the sleepy village of Swanage. These pictures were taken in July, and there's hardly anyone around. Nice to be able to get away so close to town. If you scroll right, just after the end of the warf is the white cliffs and rocks of "Old Harry Rocks" (you'll have to look at the other webpage for more pics on those). Just behind Old Harry Rocks is Bournemouth. We'll have to go back again, and see if we can get the Bournemouth Eye (yes, another webpage) inbetween the rocks. Will have to use my super zoom for that. For now, you'll just have to believe me. It's floating somewhere on that picture. If you scroll all the way to the right, you'll see some flats at the other end of the bay. It must be really nice to be able to have such a great view, and to be so close to the city.
Scroll to the right to see the entire picture.

Hope you've enjoyed Corfe Castle and Swanage.