Dover Soul

Two weekends ago, we headed out to Dover, a town on the British coast, for an overnight getaway. You may know of Dover because of it's famous "white cliffs": gorgeous, chalky coastline that stretches on for miles. It also has shortest distance of water between the UK and continental Europe (France).

After quickly checking into our bed and breakfast, we headed up towards the Dover castle. It's set high above the town on a hill, so the trek up was a bit steep. The castle grounds are actually quite spread out and there's lots to see.

Our first stop was at the Secret WWII tunnels for a guided tour. The tunnels were built underneath the castle grounds and then used during WWI, but it was in WWII that they really came into the forefront. Operation Dynamo: as the Nazis invaded France, they pushed the Allied forces nearer and nearer to the French coastline as they overtook more land. Finally, the troops were pushed to a town on the French coast directly opposite of Dover. At that time, it became a rescue mission. Send as many boats as possible to save as many troops as they could before France became entirely under Nazi control. At the time, the British estimated they could save about 30,000 people. They ended up saving about 300,000 because of their quick response and keep going mentality, and because the Dover citizens used their personal boats to ferry people across. The tunnels were used as a base for the mission and also an old hospital barracks which we also toured.

Next we headed inside the Great Tower of the castle. We climbed to the top and then made our way down through the hidden passageways, Royal chambers and rooms. 

After touring the castle we headed towards the white cliffs. As we were walking we realized we had made a terrible mistake: the footpath ended and we found ourselves on a small, curvy road. Cars whizzed past as we dodged out of the way fearing for our lives. After half running / standing in bushes, we finally made it to the chalky, white cliffs of Dover just as the sun was setting. The path stretches for miles and lines the cliff side (sometimes a little too close to the edge). We headed back before it got too dark and found a nice pub/wine bar where we had a pint to calm our nerves.

After an overnight getaway, we made the journey back into London the next day: turns out, a little Dover is good for the soul.

...and yes, I also had Dover sole while we were there : ) delicious!