White Cliffs of Dover

On Saturday, Josh and I took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Dover.  Josh has been itching to visit Dover since we moved to England and I am so glad that we finally got a chance to go.  Dover is known for its white cliffs, which are formed primarily by chalk and some black flint.  The cliffs were absolutely breathtaking...

The White Cliffs of Dover

Our lunch spot...can't get much better than this!

A view of the Port of Dover

When we first rolled into town, our plan was to go to the visitor's center to figure out our game plan for the day.  We only had 8 hours before our bus headed back to London.  Unfortunately, the visitors center was closed and/or moved to a location that was not clearly defined.  So we ended up walking towards the castle and hoping to come across the path that would bring us to the cliffs.  On our walk we saw a lady coming towards us with a rolling suitcase.  She yelled angrily at us from across the street "where is the Dover Port?" Josh and I kind of knew where it was, but she was at least a couple miles away.  Josh told her to keep going down to the end of the road and take a left.  Then she starts yelling and calling us "Bastard Americans" about 5 or 6 times as she walked away from us!  It was obvious that this lady had mental issues, but it was still shocking to be yelled at by a random person! 

After being the target of verbal abuse by a random crazy lady, we took a quick walk around the outside of the castle.  We almost went in, but then decided we wanted to do the cliffs first, and I'm glad we did because we ended up spending most of our day exploring the cliffs and the beach below. 

The Dover Castle

The Port of Dover

Josh at our lunch stop.

Believe it or not, there were horses (Josh thinks Donkey) grazing along the cliffs and we were able to go right up to them. 

The horse/donkey grazing on the cliffs.

Love this place!

It was very windy up there!

Josh made me snap so I had to push him off the cliff!

Green waves of grass.

On top of the cliffs, there were huge fields of tall green grass.  It was amazing to watch the wind whip the stalks around.  It looked like waves on a beach.  It is what I had always pictured "amber waves of grain" to look like...except green of course! 

Josh looking out over the sea to France, only 22 miles away.  My phone actually thought I was in France and texted me a "Welcome to France" message. 

Walk down to the beach

After a few hours up above on the cliffs, we headed down a narrow and rocky walkway to get a view of the beach.  It really wasn't much of a beach, it was pretty narrow and was covered in rocks, not sand, but it was a great place to lay back and listen to the waves roll in and scatter the rocks, it sounded like rain.  We also got to explore an old WWI bunker and meet our second crazy person of the day!

Really tall, steep ladder to get to the beach...I felt like Orphan Annie in the end of the movie when she climbs the train tracks to get away from Rooster!

The rocky beach.

Really cool abandoned WWI bunker.

Inside the bunker.

There were a few other people down on the beach while we were there.  One guy looked like he had been sleeping for most of the afternoon because his face looked really sunburned on one side.  He woke up right as Josh and I were getting ready to head back up to the top of the cliffs.  He was actually friendly, but still a little creepy/weird.  He kept trying to get really close to us and talking about how pretty it was at the cliffs and did we know it was called Hellfire Corner.  He alluded to being in the military and working with US soldiers.  I think he said "Hellfire Corner" about 12 times in our short 3 minute conversation, he didn't want us to forget!  Finally, Josh and I headed back to the top of the cliff and headed back to the main part of Dover.

House built into the side of the cliff.

Beach in Dover

We sat around on the beach for a while and then found a brewery to have a beer and some appetizers.  After a snack, we headed back down to the beach and watched some people flying kites, it was so nice and peaceful and relaxing! 

Josh relaxing on the beach.

  We finally headed back home around 8:00.  We had a 2 1/2 hour ride back to London and then it took another hour to get home from the bus station (traffic on a Saturday night through the center of London is insane!).  Our third and final crazy person of the day happened as we were getting off the bus at Victoria Coach Station.  The guy sitting behind us had been drinking alcohol the whole ride back and as soon as the bus stopped he jumped up to get off.  There was a lady in the very front getting something down from the overhead compartment and apparently the guy pushed her to get her out of the way so he could get off the bus.  The lady flipped out on him and was yelling stuff like "don't push me" "men don't push women in this country" "don't touch me old man" "I can take you" "you are going to hell"...etc. etc.  It was pretty entertaining and not the first time I've heard someone go off on a complete stranger on public transportation.  Oh London!

Next week is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, a celebration of the 60 years on the throne.  Josh gets Monday off for the Queen's birthday and Tuesday off for the Jubilee and there are going to be all sorts of celebrations across the city, and a boat parade/flotilla which looks really fun.  It should be a fun week!


Rachel