The White Cliffs of Dover – About Castles and Fairies

29th August
20.7km – with Prasana.

This walk lies a little longer in the past, but I didn’t want to keep it from you :-).

Inspiration
Following my ‘Bored of Hiking‘ post, I followed up a suggestion of one of my blog readers and researched the White Cliffs Walking Festival in Dover that was supposed to be on the August Bank Holiday weekend. (What’s the Bank Holiday about, you wonder? We celebrate the ‘Late Summer’. UK doesn’t have an Independence Day or an International Worker’s Day, so the government had to come up with an alternative to avoid emigration due to the insufficient amount of bank holidays.)

I heard about the White Cliffs of Dover before; they were in fact on my to-do list, so I figured it was a great opportunity to take them off the list.

Dover Castle
We arrived in Dover early in the morning as we wanted to squeeze in Dover Castle as well. Southeastern trains have a special 2-for-1 offer for the castle if you can show a valid train ticket from that day. BUT: make sure the castle doesn’t have any special events going on. Because then you can’t take up this 2-for-1 offer. Unluckily, that happened to us. We were fully prepared to take on this bargain to visit the castle for 9£ each, but they had to disappoint us on the entrance after we fought our way up the hill where the castle is located. Kids Day! Dammit! Alright. We went anyway. And if you’ve got kids, these events are really entertaining. And the adults can sneak a bottle of mead.

Fairies from Calais. No, FERRIES from Calais
After visiting the castle we picked up the coastal path and got to a view point from where you can watch the ferries arriving from Calais. The first thing I saw were people lined up on folding chairs and holding field glasses to observe the ferries. I was rolling my eyes over that. But then we sat down for lunch and I tell you, it’s really interesting seeing the ferries coming in, unloading, loading, all the logistics involved (we mainly talk about cars and lorries and the de-chaotisised traffic :D). In fact, if you believe it or not, I could have sat there all day to watch the port.

The cliffs
But we had to move on. So we followed the coastal path along the cliffs (which I think look most amazing from the ferry itself, rather than when walking on them. I once took the ferry from Calais to Dover, when I was still wet behind my ears. Indeed a while ago… And I still can remember the view of the cliffs you see on so many postcards and fridge magnets).

Due to the walking festival there were quite a few people on the path. Half way, we came to a very cute lighthouse, with SUCH a corny tearoom. Flowers all over the place: walls, cushions, teapots, cups. Very original.

The Highlight
Towards Deal it got quieter. Less people, more untouched nature, and half a shandy for 1 Pound. I couldn’t believe it. In London, I’m so used to paying 5.50£ for a pint, and when anything has a decent price, you’ll ask twice if the barman didn’t make a mistake…

Maybe I should think about moving to the North…

See hiking details: Instructions

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