White Cliffs of Dover

White cliffs of Dover

Monday 6 April 2015 was the Easter long weekend and I had no plans on the Monday. It was a cool Spring weekend and I decided I would get up early on Monday and go for a hike along the White Cliffs of Dover. The White Cliffs of Dover, part of the North Downs formation, is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of 350 feet, owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint.

2015 was a weird year for me, I had finished played cricket and working full time in London. I was feeling more settled with a great group of friends with a different approach to London life. My family were expecting me to come home after two (2) years in London though I wanted to stay longer. Sometimes I just needed to escape from it all and have some time to myself with some good tunes to clear the head.

I had always wanted to explore the Dover coastline and took the opportunity to just get up and go. I caught a train from Waterloo down to Dover with was about 45 minutes to an hour. Dover was a pretty simple English country town and the walk along the cliffs wasn’t too far out of the city.

As the sun rose and the day got a little warmer and more people were out on the coast enjoying the walk. The cliffs were stunning even on a slightly overcast day. There had been a few collapses of the cliff faces all along the coast so it was best to keep your distance where you could.

It was so nice to just be out of London and in some fresh air. I often forgot how easy it was to get out of London for a day. That was one of the things I loved about London, it was so easy to escape if you wanted a break from the craziness.

I discovered there were a lot of WWI and WWII installations along the Dover coastline that I could explore as well. I took the opportunity to explore the WWI museum which were underground using the WWI tunnels built there.

I was a really nice morning just exploring the coastline at my own pace before heading back to Dover for lunch. After a hearty meal and cold beer, it was time to head back to London.

It was a fun day trip for me to just escape London and get some fresh air. I am someone who needs that and also just some time to myself.