the castle and white cliffs of dover

I woke up at 5:45am Saturday morning, and decided to take the earliest train possible to Dover. Dover is, if memory serves, the point where the English Channel is narrowest. When the weather is clear enough, the French coast can be seen in the distance, and I was able to see it at various points throughout the day. It was kind of strange to think that another country, with a completely different language and culture, was so close. If I had brought my passport with me, I might have taken a ferry across the Channel to Calais, just so I could said I'd been there.

My first destination was Dover Castle, which sits high above the city.



Not knowing any better, I walked up the hill. The scenery was pleasant enough, but I was definitely sweating by the time I got to the castle.

My first view of the Channel from up above:



I took a tour through the tunnels on the grounds that were built during WWII, which was kind of interesting for the first few minutes. The tunnels primarily served as a hospital for wounded troops from both sides; soldiers would receive care there, and people with more serious injuries would then be transferred to other, better equipped hospitals. I also listened to a tour guide talk about WWII for a while. Kind of interesting to hear about the war from someone else's perspective. The guide almost sounded like he was complaining about how leaders from other countries, like Eisenhower, had overshadowed Britain's leaders. Wah wah wah.

Since the castle and its grounds sit above the city and the English Channel, one of the best things about my visit there was the views.





There's a lot of shipping activity coming in and going out of Dover. A lot of trucks get ferried back and forth (presumably because the Chunnel is too crowded or too expensive), so the noise from the docks was pretty constant.



The castle and grounds have been used for various purposes since the Romans were in Britain. This means that you get a hodgepodge of architecture and fortifications from the first century AD, 1000 AD, 12th century and so forth, all the way up to the 1940's.









Inside the castle itself, I climbed to the top and got some great views of the surrounding area.













The inside of the castle:



Inside the castle walls:



In another part of the grounds, there's an old Saxon church that was originally built around 1000 AD, and a Roman lighthouse that was built in the 1st century AD. The original church is mostly gone, but was added on to and restored in the 1800's. The juxtaposition of the church and lighthouse is an interesting one.



The inside of the church was far more modest than the cathedrals I've been visiting, but interesting nonetheless.





The grounds and views around the church:











After a quick lunch in the cafe inside the castle, I decided to search for the trail to the cliffs. I noticed this sign on the way:



One of these days, I'll have to hit Canterbury. I've heard good things.

My hike turned out to be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I got some great photos and views of the area, as well as hours to think, be alone and enjoy myself. On the other hand, I'm totally out of shape and it really showed on this little adventure. My entire body is still sore today. I think this might be the farthest I've ever walked in my entire life. At least I can say I've done it.

And now, views from the hike. Trucks go into and come out of ferries like this all day long:



The castle in the distance:



From a distance, the cliffs look like they have a lot of little holes in them. Those holes turned out to be layers of obsidian. Here's a close-up:



The cliffs really are made of chalk. I had no trouble scratching the rock with my fingernail. It felt like wet chalk, just as it should have.

My favorite part of the hike was seeing this area:





Here's a view of it from the other side:



For reasons I can't totally explain, I kept walking further and further away from Dover, enjoying the empty fields, clouds and silence. The air was strangely still--not at all what you'd expect being so close to the ocean--and the only sounds were from the occasional seagull or group of hikers.



After a while, I saw a lighthouse that I had read about in the distance. I decided to walk to it, and that would be where I would turn around and head back to Dover.







The walk back seemed long and painful. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky went from gray to blue to orange as the weather changed.









I was overjoyed to finally get to the train station in Dover. The walk back had been kind of strange. I was in a lot of pain, and sometimes when you're in pain and a bit out of it, things seem surreal. Nothing could have been more surreal than the dozens of teenagers and 20-somethings I saw on the road by the ferries, attempting to hitchhike to France, Germany, Belgium or other parts of Europe. I don't know if this is tradition or if something special was going on, but most were strangely dressed, and many had painted faces. All carried signs of various sizes, announcing their destination and requesting a "charity hitchhike". Weird.

I again watched "Mad Men" on the way back to London. When I got back, I decided to take a walk on a footbridge outside the train station that I had previously been unaware of. I'm glad I did--it was a great time to take photos of a different part of the Thames, where I could see the Eye of London, Big Ben and Westminster Palace (the houses of Parliament).









I ended the day with a stop at Burger King. In all my foreign work travels, this was the first time I had stopped at an American fast food place. I wish I hadn't--the Whopper wasn't nearly as good as its American counterpart.

It was a good Saturday. Grueling, but good.