On the white cliffs of Dover

A beautiful sunny day so F and I took ourselves off to Dover for the day, playing Travel Scrabble on the two-hour train journey. At Dover we walked along the seafront, which we were surprised to see wasn't like traditional seafronts - no cafes overlooking the sea or knick-knack shops, just a promenade. We walked up the cliff path to White Cliffs, which overlooks the ferry terminal. We watched the massive ships dock and leave, and the endless queues of trucks, cars, motorbikes and the odd cyclist wind their way through to the appropriate loading lane. We walked west to the South Foreland lighthouse where we made good use of our National Trust cards again. We hopped on a guided tour and learnt about the treacherous sand banks around Dover, how the BBC film crew had to get rescued when filming 'Coast', and saw where Ian Fleming wrote a lot of the James Bond novels (apparently there's a number 007 bus to the area, which was around before James Bond came into being). A walk back, some tea and cake at the White Cliffs cafe, then onwards home. We caught the best of the sun and had a great day out. Yay!

The blip shows an Exmoor pony with one of the large ferries setting sail for France. Exmoor ponies have been drafted in to graze the cliff-tops.