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Hike Historical Ocean Train Travel

Run Away from Tube Strike

Dover
The White Cliffs are famously called “of Dover” probably because of the busy port the town has. However, the cliffs extend far beyond as evidenced here in this picture of the town of St. Margaret.

If the Underground’s transportation workers were going to strike for 24-hours then I was going to spend that time out of town. The weather looked good so my plans were to visit Dover and Canterbury. Both these places were rained out when last I visited and again my BritRail pass was burning a hole in my pocket.

As good planning would have it, my high speed train out of town left from the St. Pancras station just across the street from my hostel. I was on the 8:11 and in just over an hour I was in Dover having raced along at speeds up to 140 MPH. While there are many things to do in this town located only 21 miles across the English Channel from France, there was only one thing I really wanted to do. I wanted to walk the White Cliffs of Dover and I did.

Upon arriving, I took a bus to St Margaret’s which was five miles away on the other side of the famous cliffs. From there I walked back, pausing way too often to take pictures. The weather was near-perfect. I was so lucky. Check out the pictures for proof.

From Dover I took a train to Canterbury, heart of the Anglican church since time immemorial and the town first made famous through Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”. The former dates back to the sixth century and the latter to the 14th century. My point is that this place has amazing history and I knew in advance that I’d enjoy revisiting. And I did.

However, my biggest memory of my visit to Canterbury will have nothing to do with its history. No, it has to do with a wonderful rehearsal I watched in the heart of the church. A mixture of opera, African rhythm, child choral singing, and chanting went into the multimedia performance of Africa Sanctus 2010 which was to be performed tonight. Wow was it strange. Wow was it compelling! I enjoyed it very much and feel fortunate to have stumbled into it.

Coming back to London I timed so I arrived in time to see a photo exhibition before it closed at 7:00 PM. Yesterday, when walking to my hostel, I stumbled into this pictorial essay of the 1998 crisis in Burma but due to the Tube strike (it started yesterday at 5:00 PM) they had closed the exhibit early. Thankfully today I found it open so I descended into the catacombs where the pictures are on display. A place where dead people are stored seemed an odd but appropriate place for pictures of the military junta’s misdeeds. The show was pretty compelling and I learned a lot.

Twice today I benefitted from happy chance.

Dover 1
Path of the four mile hike I took along the White Cliffs of Dover.

Dover 2

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Dover 6

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Dover 8

Dover Canterbury 1
Over 1,000 years old and still amazing: the Canterbury Cathedral.
Dover Canterbury 2
Listening/Watching the Africa Sanctus 2010 rehearsal.
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By TravisGood

Speaker. Maker. Writer. Traveler. Father. Husband.

MakerCon Co-Chair (MakerCon.com)
Maker City San Diego Roundtable Member
San Diego Maker Faire Producer (SDMakerFaire.org)

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