Being in Folkestone, not far away along the Kent coast was Dover and the famous white cliffs. Given a break in the winter weather I really wanted to do the walk along the White Cliffs of Dover.
First Visit to Dover
I have wanted to visit the White Cliffs of Dover since moving to Bexhill in East Sussex. From East Sussex I often took trips across the county border and into Kent. But the white cliffs was a bit too far. But now based in Folkestone just for the week, Dover was only a short trip away.
Windy Weather
The weather forecast was a mixed bag, sun, wind, rain and cloud, so I took the plunge as was running out of time. It can get really windy on top of the white cliffs, even with a tripod. I opted to hand hold my camera as felt with image stabilisation and fast shutter speed, wider aperture, this is how I was going to capture some sharper pictures.
National Trust
The national trust protect and manage the white cliffs of Dover. I would have arrived earlier but its one of those car parks that has a barrier and ticket office that not open until 10AM. When I arrived the guy at the kiosk told me opens 9AM. You may be better off parking somewhere else in town and hiking up for an early morning sunrise. Early morning and usually you have a lot less wind too.
White Cliffs Walks and Views
The footpath across the white cliffs runs from the car park all the way to Saint Margarets. The footpath is only mildly undulating so is not that strenuous unless you stray off the beaten track. Compared to Beachy head in east Sussex and the Durdle Door coastline in Dorset its much easier on the legs.
Dover harbour is quite busy with ferries making the channel crossing to France. On top of the cliffs you cant always get the best vantage point for a great landscape photo. From the ferry you could get a full frontal of the magnificent cliffs.
Its very windy up there and a long way down but an exhilarating place to be and to visit.
St Margaret’s Bay
Following the footpath you enter St Margarets at Cliffe and bay where there is a nice pub to take some refreshments called the Coastguard.
The weather front was changing, clouds and rain was moving in. Walking back to the carpark and I needed my waterproofs. A great day out though along the White Cliffs of Dover. I shot a lot of ad hoc compositions with my mobile phone camera which you can view here.