May 3, 2023
There’ll be bluebirds over, the white cliffs of Dover….
Even though I am not British (directly), the sight of the cliffs brings a level of nostalgia. The cliffs welcome home those crossing from The Continent at Calais and returning to mother England. It would be nice if the landing place was prettier.
The port was about two miles to town, along busy stretches of road. There are shuttles from the ship to the town for £8. There wasn’t one waiting when we disembarked, and no one seemed to know when the next one would arrive, so on a fine and clear day, we hoofed it in. Once past the port area, Dover is a very pretty small English city, topped by a castle. I wanted to go to the castle, and if possible, walk along the white cliff trail overlooking the cliffs and harbor. We arrived in town about 9AM, and the castle didn’t open until 10. The Dover Museum opened at 9:30 and was free to enter, so we had a coffee and then wandered the museum.
At 10AM, we caught the ship’s bus from town to the castle. Got off – to an enormous line. School groups were standing there – and not moving. We waited about 10 minutes with no advancement, so we went on a hike.
There was a trail near that took you to a memorial at the base of the cliffs, and another trail with a bike symbol – we ended up on neither because we saw a gate onto a field where two men were walking their very large German Shepherd (not aggressive, but not terribly friendly, either). The hill gave a lovely view of Dover below.
We turned back after fifteen minutes – and the line had not moved. We went in search of the part of the trail to the base of the cliffs, found the area, and met up with some hikers. They said it does go to the base – but there was too much overgrowth to see the cliffs, and the trail took about an hour round trip. This did not sound promising. We went back to the castle – the line was even longer. I wanted to try and find the trail to the top of the cliffs, so we set out. John’s foot started bothering him so he went back and I pressed on. After an hour of walking, I finally found a trail that marked toward the cliffs. I met up with another walker and asked how far – “about 4-5km”- it looked so much closer, but distances can be very deceiving. I had no idea how long the trail back to town would be once I reached the edge (there is a trail that goes from the cliffs to town), and it was about 11:30 – the ship would set sail at 3. It may have been doable, but I didn’t want to risk missing the boat (I did have my passport and a credit card – so I could have flown to Amsterdam or Berlin if needed).
I hoofed it back to a restaurant at the turn of the main road to the castle, had a terrible veggie burger, and tried to get an Uber back to town. No luck. The cashier called me a cab. I met up with John on the bus back to the ship. He had walked back to catch the shuttle by the castle and the line had completely dispersed, so he toured the castle (tickets £25 at the castle, £23 online in advance).
Back on ship, we relaxed and took some photos from the upper deck. I had made it to behind the giant radio-type towers sitting on the hill across from the castle (until fences blocked the path, turning it north). So even though I could not look down over the edge of the cliffs, I was definitely walking along them.
If we’d thought about buying tickets for the castle online the day before when we had wifi, it would have been a different day. I did get in 25,000 steps and about 20 flights.
A brief history of Dover, England
Dover was settled during the Stone Age, with earliest recovered tools dating to 6000 BC. One of its most significant discoveries from the Bronze Age (approx. 1100BC) was a boat preserved by Millenia of mud. Intricate patterns of fitting the wooden beams and knots kept it water tight. Recreations of this boat successfully navigated the English Channel to Calais.
In Roman days, the town was called Dumas, the settlement thrived, remains of items from all over the Roman empire were preserved. The beginnings of what became Dover Castle were begun by the Romans. As Rome fell, the power void was filled by the Saxons, and the King of Kent ruled the area. The town was renamed Dofras, and trading continued across the Channel. Within the castle walls, sits Saint Mary in Castro church, dating from 1000AD.
After William the Conquerer sacked Hastings, he moved on to Dover, burning the city and existing castle before moving on to Canterbury. Under his rule, Dover was rebuilt and fortifications were significantly improved. With both sides of the channel under Norman rule, trading thrived for the next 100 years. In 1216 and 1295, the French attacked the castle (in 1295 the town burned, but the castle stood strong). Under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the importance of Dover for English maritime protection re-emerged, and the port was repaired and deepened. In the early 19th century, the French frequently attacked. The castle became a fort with a second set of walls built to withstand the cannon of the day and an outer ditch to expose the enemy and make them easier targets for musket fire. After 1804, and relative peace, the port underwent massive renovation, deepening the harbor and putting in rail lines to the water to transport goods and passengers. In the next 100 years, the town grew 6-fold.
During the 20th century, Dover was essential in both World Wars. (If you caught the British Series Wings in the late 1970’s – I have a distinct memory of a dogfight scene over the cliffs, though I may be wrong – it was 35 years ago.) In WWI – Dover was the first town bombed, and the populace had to take refuge in the tunnels beneath the castle. In WWII – Hitler set his sights on Dover, frequent bombardments killed 216 civilians and damaged over 10,000 buildings. Hopefully, you saw the movie “Dunkirk” – it was the Fishing Fleet based out of Dover, providing over 400 small boats – tugboats, fishing boats and small pleasure craft that rescued over 200,000 soldiers of the 338,000 stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk May 28-June 4, 1940.
The tunnels under Dover castle remained a planned stronghold in case of nuclear war (though later it was determined the chalk would not be able to block enough radiation).
Today, Dover is the largest ferry port in the world, and the castle still stands tall above it.
