white cliffs of dover

 White Cliffs of Dover

So much excitement today. I finally got to see the White Cliffs of Dover.

Okay, for some maybe, it will not be very interesting but to me, as a geologist, I find this a very nice site to look at a formation that is very significant. This coastline, made up of chalk, is identical to the coastline opposite the ocean in France. Isn't that cool. And cooler yet, the view makes it a nice backdrop for era movies where people, in tattered clothes, landed on the beach, with their boats almost sinking and all.

So anyway, O and his brother and sister drove me up there. G even woke up so early in the morning to prepare our picnic - large bacon sandwiches with the works, fruits and chips. How cool can that be? My only contribution to our picnic was a pack of Nagaraya crackers which these guys surely missed from back home. So that wasn't so bad :)

The cliffs in Dover are actually white due to the limestone/chalk that it is made of. However, I noticed that there are some cobble-sized grains within this formation that looks like quartz with an obsidian texture. I wonder what it is. A marble, perhaps?

The guys and me had fun walking along the edge of the cliff but we had to be careful to follow the trail because in some areas, erosion had already taken place and there are cracks in between it (but this one is exactly on the edge). We walked through grasses, fields of wheat, through plants that are unknown to me. Later, O told me to check my phone to get a surprise and when I pulled out my phone, exactly right there, was the surprise! I'm getting a French signal. We were definitely very near France at that moment :) The day was sunny so it was okay although the shoes that I used was not exactly the right one to go on a very long walk (didn't expect the walk to be that long, you see). We walked all the way up to the other side of the cliff, at the lighthouse. Here, we stopped to catch our breath and just enjoyed the sun.

When we finally decided to head back, the sky started turning gray. We decided to go ahead as the dark clouds where still farther away but in a couple of minutes, the rain started pouring down. My umbrella was almost to the horizontal now, my feet got very cold, my jeans got soaked all the way up through my underwear! Argh! It was uncomfortable. Halfway to our destination though, the rain stopped and we walked along a "deserted" road and when we turned a corner, what a sight to see! We were already seeing the Dover Castle. Oh, so beautiful and so majestic! We cut through a field and still, we can see the Dover Castle sitting atop that wide hill/plain, and I found a blueberry plant (or so I thought). I didn't taste it though because I was not sure if it was safe to eat. So, even though I am very cold and wet, I still had fun because I got to see Dover Castle and see its beauty and I got to pick fresh berries from a tree :)

Dover Castle

Next unexpected stop to our trip was at the Leeds Castle. Unfortunately, it was already closed for visitors and we only got to play with the peacocks running around near the Visitors Area :)

Thanks, O, G and F for the tour. I had a blast! :)