TraceysTrek

Best bits: walking across the White Cliffs of Dover

Worst bits: sea fret making it cold

Distance: 19.3 miles

It was a warm day this morning in Dover and Sally arrived bringing me fresh croissants and a banana. She dropped me off at the Battle of Britain Memorial where after saying goodbye I did my social media posts, including one celebrating 5 million steps.

Then it was a look back at Folkestone.

I walked along the edge of the cliffs for a while and then diverted onto a road due to cliff erosion.

I met a lovely man called Francis from Dover and we had a little chat as we walked along. We both had stopped and looked at the concrete listening ear which apparently was built in 1928 to collect and concentrate the sound waves of enemy aircraft approaching from across the Channel. Unfortunately this technology was made redundant by the invention of radar.

As I looked down from the cliffs the A20 was backed up with freight vehicles waiting to board ferries across the channel.

I swung back onto the cliff path where I could now see Dover. The clifftops here are full of World War II infrastructure including, lookout posts, firing ranges, anti aircraft positions the remnants of old barrack. Some of this reminded me of those at the Kyber Pass at Mugdock Country Park back home.

Just before I got to Dover I met a group of chaps who were all at university together at Sheffield Polytechnic before it was Sheffield Hallam University. They’re walking the South Downs way. I chatted to Phil, Edward, Mark, Sean  and Allan and they kindly gave me some donations. What a great bunch they were. 

The England coast path took me up the hill to Western Heights and then back down into Dover. This is where I met Sean. He had originally been born in Sheffield and he was very taken by the Beatson logo on my shorts. Apparently, he is the only Beatson in Kent.

Sean guided me down to the seafront where I was after a cup of tea. The lady in the coffee cabin gave me a free cuppa.

Then I was off again, watching some ladies cold water swimming in the sea. Big respect.

Dover as a port is extremely busy. I’m glad I wasn’t crossing the channel.

Then it was time to climb up the white cliffs of Dover. Interestingly the path was called Dame Vera Lynn Way.

The climb gave an excellent viewpoint for of Dover Castle, which sits dominating the skyline.

At the top of the climb, which actually wasn’t that steep, is the National Trust sign. I had a little celebration whoop here.

I came across Gill, Gill, Michael and David sitting on bench. It was like a scene out of the Last Of The Summer Wine. Two of them were experienced motorhome owners and we chatted about wild camping.

At certain times today there had been what look like World War II aircraft flying overhead. I’m not sure what that was about.

Casey, my friend from Cochrane lives in Folkestone and we have been trying to meet up for the last couple of days. We organised to meet at the tea room at the Lighthouse. I had a cup of tea and a scone and chatted to a lady and her daughter. While I was there Paul, originally from Glasgow but who now lives in Australia, had overheard my conversation and was very interested in my trek and asked for further information.

Unfortunately, Casey couldn’t get parked so he set off walking and fortunately we meet up. We went to the Pines gardens tea room to have another cup of tea!

After Casey left, I went back to use the facilities and had a long chat with the lovely staff.

As I came out of the café, the temperature had dropped considerably and a sea frett had come in. Normally , you can see France from here but not today. It was even difficult to see the white cliffs.

It became quite cold as I walked through Kingstown and eventually on into Deal. I managed to catch the bus with two minutes to spare and was back in Priscilla within about 40 minutes.

Just as I was about to drive off two ladies, mother and daughter, were very interested in Priscilla and my trek. So I answered lots of questions. They kindly gave me a donation. 

Then I was off again, this time to Ramsgate for the evening. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my night time cup of tea as the gas ran out and I couldn’t be bothered to change the cylinder as it was dark. That’s a job for tomorrow morning!