Dover Castle & the White Cliffs of Dover
I checked out of my Canterbury AirBnB at 8:00ish to make the train to Dover at 8:33. It's an easy trip with no changes--just straight there! Here are some silly pics of me on the train!
Dover is the leading port for cross-Channel travel which means that a lot of cargo stuff is happening here; during my research I certainly encountered the idea that it's not so tourist friendly for this reason. It's a draw because of the White Cliffs of Dover, though, and I wanted to see it since I was already so close.
The white cliffs are best seen from the water, but I just wanted to do walking. And walking I did--nearly 10.5 miles today.
I dropped off my bag at the AirBnB first. I'm so grateful that these people are willing to let me do this, otherwise I don't know what I'd do! Aileen's place was about a 10 minute walk up a steep hill from the train station. She gave me a few pointers for the day and then I was off to Dover Castle.
When Aileen was giving me the lay of the land, she told me that the hill in which her place resides is a Saxon burial ground and that a few years ago her neighbors were digging in their yard (for a new garden or doing construction?) and they found human bones and a sword! How crazy is that?! She said instead of the police, they had archaeologists coming to their yard! After that story, she quickly spoke up about nothing spooky going on in the house...but I'll be the judge of that!
So on to the castle. It was built on the original site of an ancient Saxon fortification and is positioned on top of the high cliffs, helping defend the town since 1198. Walking up there, one does not wonder why this spot was chosen. No one in their right mind would even try it. It would be impossible. The great height and the sheer drops are enough. But then there were like three levels of gates to get through before you're in the "living quarters," which is like a little town within itself. It was incredible.
Before going into the actual castle, I was advised to go into the secret wartime tunnels first, since a line forms later in the day with wait times of sometimes an hour. I was there nearly at opening time and waited about 10 minutes. Photos aren't allowed, but I snuck a few!
This was an incredible part of the castle grounds. The tunnels were originally used as potential defense against Napolean. Then they were used as a command post and defense from the Germans during WWII.
A group of about 30 of us went down together with a tour guide and you descend into the earth quickly and steeply. We began by listening to some audio of speeches at the start of WWII. We also watched a video, setting the stage for the war. Very intense stuff.
As we walked through different sections of the tunnels, we saw real recorded footage and staged footage of different topics. The way the information is projected is really cool. One time you felt like you were in a Uboat and the projection was in the middle of the room. Other times it was projected on walls. It was really well done.
I learned a lot from the tour, but mostly it's just crazy to me to be physically in the space where things occured at the time. Over 380,000 soldiers were rescued from the shores of Dunkirk and brought to Dover. It's only 21 miles to France and on a clear day, you can see it. (I saw it!) I really liked learning the stories and thinking about how brave those men were. Also, it's just devastating to think of the loss of life and how scary and lifechanging that must have been for everyone who lived during that time. I can't imagine having the Germans close in at Dunkirk and live in Dover or anywhere in England, for that matter. How terrifying!
Here are a few other photos I took inside.
Next I made my way to the castle itself. I don't think I can overstate its size. It was truly a labyrinth on the outside and inside. I'm sure that is by design! King Henry II built it in the 1100s. King Henry's descendants are still on the thrown today!
I walked the grounds and the inside quite a bit because there was much to see.
This is the same photo as above, but this proves I was there! It is out of focus.
The views from the castle were fantastic, as well.
Dover is the leading port for cross-Channel travel which means that a lot of cargo stuff is happening here; during my research I certainly encountered the idea that it's not so tourist friendly for this reason. It's a draw because of the White Cliffs of Dover, though, and I wanted to see it since I was already so close.
The white cliffs are best seen from the water, but I just wanted to do walking. And walking I did--nearly 10.5 miles today.
I dropped off my bag at the AirBnB first. I'm so grateful that these people are willing to let me do this, otherwise I don't know what I'd do! Aileen's place was about a 10 minute walk up a steep hill from the train station. She gave me a few pointers for the day and then I was off to Dover Castle.
When Aileen was giving me the lay of the land, she told me that the hill in which her place resides is a Saxon burial ground and that a few years ago her neighbors were digging in their yard (for a new garden or doing construction?) and they found human bones and a sword! How crazy is that?! She said instead of the police, they had archaeologists coming to their yard! After that story, she quickly spoke up about nothing spooky going on in the house...but I'll be the judge of that!
So on to the castle. It was built on the original site of an ancient Saxon fortification and is positioned on top of the high cliffs, helping defend the town since 1198. Walking up there, one does not wonder why this spot was chosen. No one in their right mind would even try it. It would be impossible. The great height and the sheer drops are enough. But then there were like three levels of gates to get through before you're in the "living quarters," which is like a little town within itself. It was incredible.
Before going into the actual castle, I was advised to go into the secret wartime tunnels first, since a line forms later in the day with wait times of sometimes an hour. I was there nearly at opening time and waited about 10 minutes. Photos aren't allowed, but I snuck a few!
This was an incredible part of the castle grounds. The tunnels were originally used as potential defense against Napolean. Then they were used as a command post and defense from the Germans during WWII.
A group of about 30 of us went down together with a tour guide and you descend into the earth quickly and steeply. We began by listening to some audio of speeches at the start of WWII. We also watched a video, setting the stage for the war. Very intense stuff.
As we walked through different sections of the tunnels, we saw real recorded footage and staged footage of different topics. The way the information is projected is really cool. One time you felt like you were in a Uboat and the projection was in the middle of the room. Other times it was projected on walls. It was really well done.
I learned a lot from the tour, but mostly it's just crazy to me to be physically in the space where things occured at the time. Over 380,000 soldiers were rescued from the shores of Dunkirk and brought to Dover. It's only 21 miles to France and on a clear day, you can see it. (I saw it!) I really liked learning the stories and thinking about how brave those men were. Also, it's just devastating to think of the loss of life and how scary and lifechanging that must have been for everyone who lived during that time. I can't imagine having the Germans close in at Dunkirk and live in Dover or anywhere in England, for that matter. How terrifying!
Here are a few other photos I took inside.
Next I made my way to the castle itself. I don't think I can overstate its size. It was truly a labyrinth on the outside and inside. I'm sure that is by design! King Henry II built it in the 1100s. King Henry's descendants are still on the thrown today!
I walked the grounds and the inside quite a bit because there was much to see.
This is the same photo as above, but this proves I was there! It is out of focus.
Why am I so tall?!
The views from the castle were fantastic, as well.
After the castle, I went on a long walk to the National Trust White Cliffs of Dover building. It took about 45 minutes. When I was planning this, I thought I would take an Uber for this part but no cars were available. I guess Uber doesn't really exist in Dover. Oh well--I got to see some neighborhoods I wouldn't have seen otherwise. But yeah, that was a long walk.
Upon arrival, I ate! I had a jacket potato (baked potato) with cheese on it. It also came with a small salad and some coleslaw. It was yummy! Again, the cheese is always so fresh and flavorful. I also got a mocha because coffee.
I let my phone charge for a bit and then I was off to walk the cliffs. I was surprised how close they actually were to the National Trust property; it was only a few minutes' walk and you were there. Somehow I took the route that was literally on the cliffs and I did not feel comfortable. I walked for probably 10 minutes that direction and had to find somewhere else to go because it was right there.
I asked a woman to take this photo for me because there is a nice cliff-scape way back there in the distance that you can't actually see that well. But I am glad I have this photo to show how close I am to the edge! Not good. Not good at all.
I went up a little higher and on a route that offered more protection from falling to my death and it actually ended up having a better view anyway.
My trip on the cliffs was only about 45 minutes long which was much shorter than I had anticipated it would be, but honestly I had seen enough for the day. I had already done so much walking. It was beautiful, though, and I am so glad I came here for it.
Aileen had mentioned that the cliffs are lovely in the evening, but I knew I wouldn't be there then. She had said that the wild horses are more often up there at that time. Well, guess what?! I saw some!
Pretty cool!
After this I made the long trek back down, which was very pleasant. I couldn't ask for better weather today for this, honestly. There is a lot of wind here and I was definitely sweating a lot on the way up, but the way down was so nice. I went all the way down to the water because I wanted to have a half pint at a bar called Cullins Yard on the harbor. It was about a 30 minute walk. Then I went to dinner at a pub called The White Horse, whose walls were covered by the signatures of Channel swimmers! I had fish and chips for dinner.
I feel like I haven't done as much detail in my posts as I'd like because it is pretty time consuming to write...usually about an hour. Maybe I'll go back after the fact and add more. I'm sure this is a lot to read!
Tomorrow I am off to a town called Tenterden. I have an early morning on the train and then a local bus to get me there. Tomorrow should be a day with less walking!