Steph, Kelsey, Andrea, Molly, Liz, Megan, and I left about 7:20 this morning and headed to the Victoria Coach Station to catch our 8:30 bus to........DOVER!!! We were really excited the other day when we found round-trip bus tickets for about £10!
We got there about 11 and the first site of Dover was the castle high up on the hill. Then just around the corner we got our first look at the ocean and then the white cliffs streaching on either side. It was absolutely beautiful! And it was an incredibly sunny and warm day. Perfect timing for a trip to the beach!!!
We headed to an information center and then turned back toward the shore. On the way there were a lot of shops and small restaurants. I wouldn't say the town is a great attraction, but there were some cheap stores we were tempted to check out.
Back to the beach! From far away the beach looked kindof sandy, but up close...oh no...lots and lots of rocks.
I had expected it, but from far away had carelessly gotten my hopes up. It was beautiful anyway and there were tons of colorful sailboats right around the shore and some huge cruiseliners and barges a little farther off.I got to stand in the ocean for the second time EVER!!!!!!
I loved it just as much as the first. It was freezing, but again, my feet got used to it. It was also really hard to stand on. All the round rocks really hurt your feet after a while--like an incredibly painful massage. We were nearly the only people on the beach most of the time we were there (a little over an hour, I think). 
We walked around in the waves a little and then sat to eat the lunches we'd packed. We hung out some and talked before deciding to head up to get a better view of Dover Castle. 
Up up up!
Kelsey and I were hoping to go into the castle, but it was pretty expensive AND we would really be running low on time. We wouldn't have had sufficient time for the castle and the cliffs, so we decided on the cliffs. And I'm so so so so glad we did!
We walked up up up toward the castle. Down down, then up and around, up and around on the road to a smaller road. We played Megan's Indian Walking game 
and sang some songs to pass the time. It was a very long walk. And we continued walking up and around, up and around, up up. Then we got to the top...and realized we were on the very west side of where the cliffs even thought about starting. So we had to walk though this pasture-like trail: down down around down, then up up up. 
And FINALLY we were starting to get the good views.
Then we decided to walk down the little path that zig-zagged down one of the cliff faces...and it was SOO worth it!!!
It lead down to a ladder, but before that, to some old brick passages within the cliff that had lookouts toward the ocean. WWII?? Those were really cool. Then down the big ladder to the beach. And if we thought the other beach was rocky, this one totally had it beat! These were fist-sized!!
We were taking some fun pictures in the waves when.....out of nowhere....a HUGE wave hits us all the way up to our bums!! We scream and nearly fall over. Balance was regained and we tried to hobble on our aching feet further up on shore to save our coats and bags...when another HUGE wave hits us and douses a few coats. It is not easy to move quickly over those beaches, especially with bare feet!
This picture is a good representation of how far the water came up unexpectedly. Where the water is in the picture is as far as the waves would go when we were standing there...and then there's the line where the waves ACTUALLY reached!!
Luckily we missed the third wave and only a few coats got a little wet. No major damage! We hung out on the beach a little more and then headed back up. Going up up up up up the zig-zagging path on the cliff was not so simple. But nobody died!
Then it was up up and over the big post-card cliffs. We were trying to head over to the lighthouse, but really didn't have enough time to walk that far. We could eventually see it, but it was still pretty far away. So we hung out on top taking lots of fun pictures. At one point, there was a big yellow helicopter that flew really close to us and we got a big wave from whoever was in the back. We weren't sure why that made us so excited, but it was fun!!
English major picture for Nancy! Liz, Andrea, and meWe started walking back down about 4 to make our 5:05 bus. It was much easier when we took the path that lead right back into Dover instead of the one that wound up around the castle. We got back in pleanty of time to stop at Somerfield to pick up some well-deserved pints of ice cream to share on the bus.
Once we got home we showered the sweat and white dust off of ourselves. I did some laundry and was going to start some homework while the other girls went out looking for some drinks. The Old Swan was out of chocolate this time, so luckily I didn't miss out on an Envy. ;)
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