The Whitecliffs of Dover (Post-Cliffs)

The next day, we decided to walk up to the Castle.

 We took the back road which led us to a some sort eerie lane which faced a shaded hill and many trees. The buildings were tall and boxy. I like how they look especially with the smoke coming out of them. Makes me think of Oliver Twist or those old 60s movies where children would be fed gruel and maids with frumpy white frocks as well as hairnets.

 Eerie, no? Except for the cars. Haha.

My favourite part was the church that was bombed in WWII by the Germans.

 We stood there for a long time examining the blown off parts and the charcoaled marble.

 There were tombstones all over the church paths. Look! 1722!

The Whitecliffs of Dover (The Cliffs)

Before we begin, switch on the soundtrack to the post: 

We decided to walk to the cliffs from the town itself.

 We took a small back road leading up to the base of the cliff. The view from that road was beautiful!

 Somehow the place really reminded me of Santorini. Rocky cliffs and bright coloured houses in a row. :) Look into my eyes and see what I see. :D

 The chalky cliffs. The climb began with a tiny steep road which only had room for one comfortable climber at a time. With the sound of locust/cricket type thingies with every step we took, it was hard for me not to think of Ancient Thira which was quite a similar experience. 

 Finally, after about 20 mins or so, we got to the entrance of the cliffs.

 The walk was straight from then on. I was getting height jitters. I could feel my legs turning to jelly involuntarily and the bottle I was holding was slipping from my sweaty palms. I kept squealing, "FIVE METRES FROM THE SIDE, YING!!!!!" (the pamphlet said that the cliffs are continuously eroding so we must keep 5 metres from the side). Naturally, being afraid of heights, to me Ying seemed to be hovering over the waters. I couldn't take it any longer and told him to go on without me. 

 He wouldn't leave me so we walked around the area trying to find an alternate route apart from the one tracing the sides of the cliffs without any protective poles/wooden beams. After failing to do so, we agreed that he would go on that route and I would stay back and enjoy looking at the English Channel.

 I decided to do some climbing so I heaved myself up onto the highest plateau of grass and realised that further up, there was a tiny wooden gate. I saw a couple walk there and disappear around the peak of the plateau. I hiked up there and there it was: PUBLIC FOOT PATH! I walked through the Z-gate designed to keep horses from escaping and started on Ruffit's Trails.

 Meanwhile, Ying was treading the precipice of the cliffs and took some magnificent shots with the camera.

 Spot the crazy rusted metal trail. Thank goodness Ying had more sense than to try to go on the path. Although I'm sure if he didn't have me to worry about, he would have gone on. There's no stopping his adventurous spirit! The guy RAN down all the way from the peak of Mount Kinabalu for goodness sakes! :D

 He managed to lean across the sides and snap a picture of what he was told, was supposed to be a sunken ship which would be visible had the tide been lower. Try see if you can make out its shape.

 I wonder if that whitish outline is the ship or it's just our eyes playing tricks on us.

Haha, you can see how tempted he was to get on that metal railing. 

I couldn't call him to let him know that I was already in the trail because our phones had picked up on France's mobile services and it would cost us much more to call/sms although we were still in the UK.

While we were both walking towards each other from opposite sides of the cliff, suddenly, in the middle of the cliff,  a giant flock of seagulls flew out of nowhere making the most crazy sound ever. I was snapping away at it on my handphone and Ying was on the other side filming the sound for me to hear on his camera. Hahha. It was insane. Just look at the number of huge seagulls!

We finally met and I took him upwards to where I came from to show him some horses. He then began his obligatory Progression of Oddity. (It's something he always ends up doing without knowing it on our holidays)

 The Z-Gate at the peak and the beautiful cliffs.

 We caught the ferries coming into the Port of Dover. Very cool.

The Whitecliffs of Dover (Pre-Cliffs)

The long absence has been due to dissertation duties and relocating to London.

Ying & I decided to take a short trip to Dover, Kent to off-load our collective study stress before starting his job. When we arrived, we walked around Dover town itself for a bit before passing out in the B & B. We were terribly exhausted and sleeping was a much understood necessity. :D 

 The next day, we finished our walk around the town and passed this beautiful church. You can see the castle from many points in the town.

We walked around and decided to have lunch at Castle Fish & Chips on Castle Hill Road.

 After which, we saw a seagull window-shopping on the quiet Flying Horse Lane.

 The church has a sundial at the side of its walls. I don't think I managed to snap a shot of it. Another church laid just around the corner. There were three old churches within walking distance, one of which was bombed by the Germans in World War II. We visited it on our last day there.

 I managed to capture the beautiful sunlight on the church lawn.

 We walked from the Market Square towards the ports. Beautiful buildings were scattered along the way. Dover is really quite interesting. You turn a corner, you see run down slummish buildings and noisy drunks. Another corner, you see majestic castles and yet another corner you see silent and stately white columns. You walk for a bit and you see the cliffs facing a busy port. Curiouser and curiouser.

 Spot the contrast of the castle and apartments facing the sea behind me. 

The cliffs will be in the next post.