Moving along (the cliff)

Further around the coast and just beyond Dover, you come to Langdon Cliffs owned by the National Trust.  I have always resolutely turned my back on this because it seemed somehow very wrong to have to pay to walk along the coast.  I take it all back now.

I did have to pay to park the car but had I been on foot there would have been no charge.  Of course there is nowhere remotely close by for parking at the Dover end of the cliffs.  Maybe there is further along but that I don't know.  A nominal fee of £3 isn't exorbitant in any case so I was perfectly happy, the facilities provided are good (lovely cakes!), and the cliffs are well maintained.

The car park, part of it anyway, over looks the cross channel Eastern docks at Dover.  There is something mesmerising about watching the ferries arrive, manoeuvre into position, disgorge passengers and freight, re-load and depart, only to have the berths re-occupied within a very short time.

But I was here to see the cliffs so off I trotted.  Not too fast because the paths, which were on at least three levels, were really quite rough and really quite close to the edge....

There were warning signs up about the recent landslip but that seemed rather like shutting the door after the horse had bolted.  The result of the slide was easily visible from quite a distance.

Neither that nor the signs stopped people from looking closely.

I didn't notice anyone until I was going through these photos at home, and I've had to zoom as much as possible.  If you click on the picture you should be able to make out a few foolhardy souls who had gone for a closer inspection of the landslip and appeared to be standing right on the edge.

The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the varieties of flora and fauna to be found on the chalk grassland.  To maintain the grassland, the National Trust has brought in a number of Exmoor ponies to graze the land and keep over-vigorous grasses under control.  The ponies looked at me with some suspicion but didn't run away.

I imagine they would soon move if anyone approached too closely but I don't know how tame they are.  There are notices asking people not to feed the ponies.

The views are superb:

over the cliff tops

towards Dover Castle

and to the rocks below.

On a clear day, of course not this day, you should be able to see France.

The protected area continues over the cliffs to South Foreland Lighthouse and St Margaret's Bay, a route I'm saving for another day.

Lost in the mists

Recently, although the days have been beautifully sunny, early mornings have been misty and the mists have lingered over the sea.  When I went to visit the Battle of Britain Memorial site near Folkestone, it was sunny and warm so it wasn't until I had a look over the cliffs to see the view that I realised how much the mist remained even at midday.

That is the view towards Dover with the train line running at the base of the cliffs.

A year ago I travelled along that line and managed to take a picture from as the train, the high speed one, passed along.  it can't have been travelling too fast at that point and, given how near the sea is, I'm quite glad it wasn't.

The view towards Folkestone.  In the days when there was a cross channel ferry running from Folkestone to Boulogne and Calais, the London train used to finish at the harbour arm you can see there in the distance.  The luxurious Venice Simplon Orient Express stopped there for about twenty years, before changing route to Folkestone West.

Not all the cliffs are white.  I have little to no knowledge of geology, but the red earth looks to me like the presence of an iron ore.

The North Downs Way passes right along this cliff top, and in places they seem to be encouraging you to walk over the edge.  The chalk cliffs are very prone to collapse and just last week there was a considerable fall just on the far side of Dover.  I'm rather glad there isn't a guard rail all the same.  It would ruin the feeling of the wide open space.

Possibly not the place to go if it really is misty.

Symbols of power

Medieval castles, five of them in this small town of Chauvigny, all symbols of power of a bygone age.

Chauvigny is situated on a high promontory over the River Vienne, the only medieval settlement of its kind in Europe, so the promotional literature says.  The five fortresses are grouped inside a single outer wall and overlooked by the belfry of St Peter's Church.

Left to right in the view above: Château Baronial, Château d'Harcourt, St Peter's Church, Château de Gouzon, The other two fortresses, Flins and Montléon don't show on this picture.  The tower of Flins is now a private residence while Montléon has all but disappeared by being incorporated into more recent buildings.

But as with many symbols of power, they have crumbled over time.

Taken over gradually by vegetation ...

 ... and other wildlife.

A two-in-one post for the Photo Hunts. 

Versatility in the face of adversity

I have been tagged.  I swore I'd never let myself be tagged again after already doing similar things at least four times.  But that was in the dim and distant past and the tag has come from Adullamite who is always so cheerful.

I think I'm supposed to tell my rapidly shrinking readership seven things about myself but that's been done, so I'll tell you seven things about today and maybe indirectly about me.  To do that I needed some photos so off I set.

And this is what I saw.

1.  I saw mist.  The sky looked blue, the sea looked blue but there was little else.  There should have been ferries, container ships, even France.

2.  I saw one of the fishing boats being winched up on to the beach.  As I stopped to watch I saw the skull and crossbones flag which reminded me of something I've seen in a local and apparently abandoned graveyard.

A grave with a skull and crossbones carved into it.  It has very much weathered over the years so I don't know what else there may be carved there.  I am fascinated to see it on a gravestone but have no idea why that should be.


Walking further along...

3.  I saw the end of the pier shrouded in mist.  For some reason the camera sees more clearly than my eyes but the far end of the pier does look a little misty here.

4. I saw two dead birds on my walk, both the same.  I've never seen dead birds on the beach before; I imagine they are usually scavenged.  When I got home I went to the RSPB site to identify them and I'm fairly sure it's a razorbill.  They shouldn't be in this area at all.

We have plenty of gulls but nothing like this.  To be honest I struggle to identify the gulls; they all look much the same to me.

5.  I saw people feeding the gulls, as usual.  At times it looks like a scene from "The Birds".  The majority of them I think must be herring gulls.

This is why.  Cheap food.

6.  Looking towards the flats along the sea front, I noticed the stone/pottery owl on a ledge.  Pigeons are a menace around here and there are bird deterrent spikes everywhere.  The pigeons pull them off, or sit beside them.  no pigeons sitting beside this owl though.  I'm wondering if there is a market for inflatable owls?

In spite of the mist, people were out and about...

fishing, a whole family fishing, with pushchair.  There may have been a child in the pushchair, there may not.

And ....

7.  I saw the first ice cream of the season.

I don't know that it demonstrates any versatility but....

Thank you Adullamite for the great honour bestowed upon me.  I'm not going to pass it on because I don't know enough people.

this should have come first, shouldn't it?  Break one rule, break them all, I say.