Dover

 

Dover’s famous White Cliffs present a grand greeting or farewell to England for the majority of people who travel from or to continental Europe.

From Dover you are at Britain’s closest point to continental Europe, with Calais just 20 miles away in France. Hence why this small town is the main terminal for Car Ferries and Hovercrafts crossing the English Channel to ports at Calais, Ostende and Dunkerque etc. Just nine miles from Dover off the M20 motorway, the Channel Tunnel begins its journey across the English Channel, and for foot passengers the last station to board the Eurostar Train is at Ashford, just outside Dover.

In the past, Dover’s proximity to continental Europe lent it a very different significance as a strategic point of defence from European invaders. Since the Iron Age, Dover has seen strong coastal defences situated on the rocky headland atop the White Cliffs. The remains of a Roman lighthouse can still be seen here and in 1181, Henry II built a Norman keep here, which withstood a prolonged siege from the French in 1216. During the reign of Edward I, Dover was one in a chain of Cinque Ports, established to defend the southern coast from the pesky French and from then Dover Castle was built up as a key strategic point for the defence of Britain from the Napoleonic era right up to WWII. Today Dover Castle together with its secret wartime tunnels represents an unmissable tourist attraction, though there is little reason to stop in the town of Dover itself.

Surrounding Dover the famous White Cliffs extend for some ten miles either side of the town. There is a pathway that winds for two miles along the top of the cliffs to the east of Dover, at the appropriately named Gateway to the Cliffs visitor centre.