Before leaving Uni, a bunch of mates invited me to their house and offered to show me around their town. One of those mates was my friend, Esther, who lived on the floor below mine back in the dorm. She invited me to stay with her in Canterbury which is almost as south east as you can go in the UK! I got on the train and made it down in a short four-hour train ride from Liverpool.
After seeing Canterbury, Esther decided to take me to see the famous White Cliffs of Dover because they are only about a fifteen-minute car ride from her house, so we hopped in the car and took off!
Before I could even pick a decent song to play in the car, this massive castle appears on a hill right along the route to the cliffs. I asked what that was, and Esther told me that the castle was called Dover Castle. The cliffs were right on the other side of the castle walls. We drive another five minutes, park the car, and started following the crowd along the route.
In order to get a good view, most recommend you walk along the cliff path for about ten minutes because of the Dover port. The Dover port is this massive and kind of ugly eye sore that butts up against the cliffs. The most popular use of the port is to shuttle people back and forth to France. Although it is kind of ugly, when you walk along the cliffs you walk with your back to the port and just stare at the picturesque white cliffs, so all is well!
Besides hanging over the edge and hoping you do not fall over, there really is not much to do once you have already stared at the cliffs and captured your photographs. On a good day that would be the PERFECT place for a picnic, but on a normal British day there is this sort of tradition that everyone does when they visit. On the opposite end of the national park sits a gorgeous white light house and inside the lighthouse is a quaint tea shop. The tradition is simply make it to the light house and enjoy a sweet brew while you sit outside and enjoy the view. Very simple I know, but it kind of turned into this sort of pilgrimage that everyone does, and you will be missing out if you do not do it yourself. The hike is kind of long so sitting down with a warm brew really does put the cherry on top!
If you ever want to take a visit, I recommend staying in the historic town of Canterbury, not Dover (Dover is not very nice), and come during the summer months when the sun makes some rare appearances. When there are no clouds, you can look over and see France from the cliffs. You will not regret it! White Cliffs of Dover = National English Treasure.
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