White Cliffs, 2006
Britain used to be underwater. About 85 million years ago (or six thousand for those of you visiting from Kansas) tiny microorganisms died in mass quantities and
formed a rather substantial pile of chalk on the sea floor. Today much of the southeast is made up of rolling hills that rest atop this chalk, known locally as chalk downs.
This wouldn't be particularly interesting if it weren't for centuries of wave action from the English Channel (or la Manche for those of you visiting from France),
which has had its way with the hills for millenia, carving its way into them and leaving massive, largely vertical cliffs over the sea. They recede at a rate of a few meters a year.
In April I went for a hike on the south coast along a trail called the South Downs Way, which is one of
the National Trails and stretches from the city of Eastbourne to Winchester, starting along a series of white cliffs with beautiful views over the sea. In particular Beachy Head,
just a couple miles into the trail, looks out over a lighthouse and is the tallest white cliff on the south coast. Unfortunately it was foggy, so I couldn't see much of the sea,
but the fog made for some interesting photos.
I also fairly recently went to Dover, famous for its own white cliffs, and I've included photos from there further down the page.
South Downs Way
The Eastbourne entrance to the South Downs Way from rises high over the west side of the city.
Tihe trail entrance.
White cliffs in the fog.
It was never particularly hard to see the edge of the cliffs, but seeing these people walk along the edge is a little scary. Interestingly, this path will probably
fall into the sea in just a few years, as the erosion is quite steady.
Some of these photos make the cliffs lookmore dangerous than they are, probably because I made liberal use of my camera's zoom feature.
It almost looks like I took this photo from the very edge, but I wasn't that careless. Incidentally, the dark blur there is a
privately owned lighthouse. Around the grassy interior of this cliff, just below the lighthouse, is a long prehistoric ring mound that used to
encircle the entire hill ... back when this was a hill and the cliffs were far away. This might not be a good place to own property.
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The beach at Birling Gap, a point where the cliffs are low enough that you can descend a staircase and walk along the pebbly beach.
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Timer shot.
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On the path from Birling Gap to the small town of East Dean, about a mile inland, the trail passes through some farms. I encountered these startled-looking
sheep in one of them ...
... and a group of relatively relaxed cows further along.
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The main reason I went to East Dean was to visit the Tiger Inn, a rather good pub that serves a great ploughman's lunch and Harvey's beers, which
are brewed in nearby Lewes. Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter is one of my favorite real ales.
The fields east of East Dean are really very pretty, and the once again the fog kept them interesting to my camera.
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The bandstand and boardwalk back in Eastbourne, a typical seaside town. Note the sudden blue sky ...
It turns out that the fog was a weather formation that formed over the cliffs and spilled out over the sea. You can see the fog over the cliffs in the distance in this photo.
An even better view of the fog from the pier.
Looking in the opposite direction you can see some Victorian hotels along the shore.
The pier. Like the one in Brighton, only cleaner.
Dover
I went to Dover with my friend Derek in 1995 and hadn't been back until my parents visited in July and expressed an interest in going. We took the
train from London Victoria station to Dover and I got to relive a very fun day out.
Dover Castle over the city. It's one of the best placed castles on the south coast, overlooking just about everything. It was built shortly after
the Normans arrived in 1066, and its central tower was built at roughly the same time as the White Tower of the Tower of London, and in a similar style.
It remained useful for hundreds of years, and even during the Second World War.
My Mom and Dad.
The old moat Moat cuts into the hillside, offering a view to the harbor.
The harbor from the castle. My parents were impressed at the number of ferries entering and leaving the harbor.
Dover Castle.
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The oldest structure on the hill is actually not the castle, but the much older Roman pharos, or lighthouse, which was built in the second century AD.
The Romans actually built two lighthouses on either side of what was then the city of Dubris, and the other survives only at its foundations.
Looking up the tower of the Roman pharos, which sits next to a Saxon church.
My Dad photographing my Mom.
Mom at the main tower of Dover Castle.
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A sacristy adjoining the chapel.
Dad in Dover Castle.
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Mom on the castle roof ...
... and Dad.
The Roman Pharos from the tower.
While you might be tempted to call this weapon a catapult, it is actually a trebuchet. It had an extra swinging bit on the back end, the momentum of which
really sent things flying.
There are actually some Medieval tunnels that run under Dover Castle, and we managed to explore some of them.
Hiking up the hill to the castle, then back down again, is hard work, especially in the heat of July. Needless to say my Mom made good use of the harbor ...
... despite the warning signs.
We then proceeded to walk to the white cliffs through the town.
There is a nice path up the cliffs, and you can probably spend much of the day on it if you have time.
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Dad photographing Mom again.
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Parts of the path are fenced to prevent animals from wandering into a void, and then a few seconds later, the sea.
Some of these animals were on the trail, eating grass and enjoying it.
A pano of Mom and Dad at the White Cliffs, with the harbor at Dover to the left.
I remembered finding a path that zigzagged down the cliffs when I visited with Derek, and a couple years later I spotted it from a ferry to France. This time
we rediscovered this path and wandered down.
A the bottom is an entrance to a manmade cave, into which turrets were built to defend the shore in the Second World War.
Looking out from the turret. Presumably there would have been anti-aircraft guns here.
A ferry passes by.
One thing I didn't see when I visited with Derek was an array of barnacle-encrusted wreckage on the beach, since the tide was higher when we came in 1995.
This looks to be the remains of a ship's hull, but it's hard to be sure.
A nice view of the turrets from the beach, with Mom and Dad at the right.
