Cliffs of Dover

Yesterday my roommate and I were talking about the limited amount of time we have left in Oxford, and since we don’t have class on Wednesdays, decided to plan a day trip to Dover. 

Since we have first class BritRail passes, the trip really isn’t costing us anything, and we knew it would be worth it. So we gathered our group (five adventurous travelers) and set off for the Oxford train station early this morning. (I’ll spare you the minute details of the train trip, because we’re kind of beginning to panic about work at this point and spent the whole time writing papers.)

It is interesting to note, though, that two very odd but completely unrelated things happened on our journey this morning. First, a fight broke out while we were on the tube, which consisted of the comedic scene of two men chasing each other through the cars, followed by a priest. Second, the train ahead of us derailed because it hit a herd of cows, destroying the section of track and a nearby bridge (apparently the bridge destruction was due to the cows and not the train). 

The good thing is that the fight delayed our tube, which made us miss our train by just a few minutes, preventing us from being on the train that derailed (no one was hurt, by the way, except for some cows).

Anyway, once we finally made it to Dover, we were escorted by a friendly passerby to the cliffs (she overheard us talking about how we had no clue where we were going). She walked us along the beach, then through the port, and finally to the bottom of the steps that led up to the cliffs.  

By the time we finally made it there, we had less than three hours for our walk (we wanted to be back at Christ Church for dinner at 7:15). 

Somehow we experienced everything in those three hours. 

We saw wild horses, took paths so steep we thought we might just slide down them, and enjoyed the beautiful view of the cliffs, the channel, and the hints of France across it.

 
   
I am a little ashamed to say that the horses were better at taking those steep paths than we were. They managed them calmly, while we had to take running starts and launch ourselves towards the top, watching every calculated footstep. But it was so much fun. By the end of it, our calves and thighs were burning, but we’d done what we’d come to do. 

(And then we basically ran back across town to get to the train station on time.)

The cliffs were utterly stunning. Even now as I write this, the image of the jagged chalk-white drop off heading down into the clear blue water is still seared into my mind. I can still feel the smile that came to my face when we discovered a particularly beautiful view, and happiness we gained from just spending time together in nature. 

It was a day well spent.