UK coastal walks: how to tackle the White Cliffs of Dover
Put aside the endless clichés and poetic words: the White Cliffs of Dover make for a special landscape indelibly tied to its history. “The White Cliffs are more than the sum of their parts,” says Gareth Wiltshire of the National Trust.
“There’s more here than you anticipate, but it’s almost as much about the concept as the place. People see it through their own eyes, they bring their own preconceptions here. The idea of the cliffs is as important as what they are, a national symbol.”
The cliff setting is also industrial. Far below, the straits of Dover resemble a child’s toy set: a Spaghetti Junction of the seas, with ships headed for France, the Netherlands and the Baltic. Announcements of ferry departures float to the cliff tops drawing the eye to the commerce of Polish and Lithuanian lorries parked up, matchstick-sized port officials and passengers, the huge vegetable storage facilities.
“The coast can spark poetic thoughts, but it’s also a place with a working and industrial presence. There’s a real living dynamism to the place that doesn’t detract from the experience of walking the coast,” says Phil Dyke, the National Trust’s coast and marine adviser. “It’s just another layer on a landscape that is riddled with cultural use.”
Look out, suggests Phil, and imagine the long-gone land bridge that connected us to the continent. “It’s a landscape with a deep history, geologically and physically. It resonates with symbolism. Coastal trails tend to be institutionalised – they’re either marine or coast, but at the White Cliffs the whole experience is determined by both land and sea.”
Walk for perhaps five minutes east, and you step into a rural idyll, though this is no gentle stroll and the route goes along rough track rather than hard or manicured paths and you’ll pass grazing Exmoor ponies. The views of the cliffs are breathtaking, following an undulating landscape, and their contours – soft rather than jagged – can surprise you.
The grass is soft, slippery in rain, and immensely soothing. “I love the different colours of grassland moving in the breeze,” says Gareth. “We can get used to monotonous colours of wheat, but here there is a lovely sheen to the grass, and you can hear the crickets and the birds. You get a sward of colours, of purple or red, within the grass, as if a painter has dipped their brush here and there. It’s like a Manet landscape.”
A lot of wildlife has been coming back in recent years and ravens are returning for the first time in decades. Peregrine falcons are quite easy to spot and migrants – clouds of cabbage white, red admirals, and painted ladies – are not uncommon. Rare birds such as the wryneck await the keen-eyed, as does the endangered hornet robberfly, Britain’s largest fly. Seabirds come with this territory as standard: spectacular kittiwakes and fulmars – but the chalk grassland and its scrub also attract the seed eaters, such as linnet and the exotic looking yellowhammer.
South Foreland lighthouse, the turning point for this walk, is steeped in history too. Michael Faraday journeyed here to oversee the first lighthouse lit by electricity. This is also the most south-easterly point of the UK, and on the winter solstice is the first place to see daylight in the British Isles.
The National Trust staff here are struck by how often they are asked two questions: 'why are the cliffs so white – have they been painted?' And 'what is that land over there – the Isle of Wight?'
“The whiteness is something some visitors cannot comprehend,” says Phil. There is, though, a downside to that gloss finish. The colour is preserved by steady and sometimes sporadic erosion, with the sea nibbling away from the base – over time it works out at about half a metre a year – that will, one distant day, see the coasts march deep into the Kent countryside and the bump into the South Downs.
This explains why the National Trust has been so keen to buy up land that will eventually become the future coast. “Seas have many moods and are incredibly dynamic,” says Phil. “A coast can be changed by the slightest shift in wind direction – inland it takes more substantial storms to achieve that.”
Grade: Moderate
Distance: 4 miles (6.4km)
Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
OS Map: Explorer 138; Landranger 179
Terrain: Naturally uneven and undulating surfaces with some steep slopes. Height gain of 350ft (107m). Do not approach the cliff edge as it can crumble at any time, and take special care when the ground is wet, as the grass and exposed chalk can become very slippery. Dogs should be kept under control at all times due to stock grazing.
Getting there
By foot: Signed paths from port, station and town centre. Located on Saxon Shore Way
By bike: National Cycle Network route 1 runs close by (see sustrans)
By train: Dover Priory, 2.5 miles (4km)
By car: From the A2/A258 Duke of York roundabout take the A258 towards Dover town centre. After 1 mile (1.6km) turn left into Upper Road. From the A20, go straight ahead at four roundabouts. Turn left at the second set of lights into Woolcomber Street, then right onto Castle Street at the next lights. After 0.5 miles (0.8km) turn right into Upper Road
The route
Start: Gateway to the White Cliffs visitor centre, grid ref: TR336422
1. From the ‘Gateway to the White Cliffs’ visitor centre, head east to the coast path with the sea on your right. The cliffs are being eroded by 2-4in (5-10cm) every year although in winter storms several tonnes can fall. The battering of the sea means the cliffs stay white, otherwise they would be covered in green vegetation. Here you can also see the remains of the Convict and Military Prison above the Port of Dover.
Point of interest
Chalk grassland is a great habitat for wild flowers. It used to cover large parts of Europe but today only fragments remain, mainly in England and France. Exmoor ponies graze the grass at Langdon Cliffs, helping to keep it short and prevent scrub invading and smothering the wild flowers. Look out for the yellow flowers of wild cabbage, from which our garden varieties were bred. Spring and summer bring the colourful blooms of greater knapweed, horseshoe vetch and oxtongue broomrape (a parasitic plant living on the hawkweed oxtongue). In spring, look out for the rare early spider orchid, only found on the south coast.
2. Keep on this path, looking out for where the chalk cliffs meet the English Channel, and take in magnificent views of the French coast from the rim of Langdon Hole. On a clear day you can see 21 miles (33.8km) across the Channel. The chalk downland habitat along the cliff tops is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) due to the array of flora and insect life which thrives here. Above Fan Bay look out for pyramidal and fragrant orchids in June.
Point of interest
This area is well-known for its butterflies, especially the small, adonis and chalkhill blues. As the name suggests, the chalkhill blue butterfly is commonly found in chalk grassland habitats where it can find its favourite plant, the horseshoe vetch. Red admiral, painted lady and clouded yellow can be seen in large numbers during migration when some come to the UK from Europe or Africa. July is the month to spot several rare moths like the day-flying straw belle. Also look out for Britains largest fly (the endangered hornet robberfly), ermine moth caterpillar, and a recent colonist, the wasp spider.
3. South Foreland Lighthouse was built in 1843 on a spot where lighthouses have stood for over 350 years. It helped mariners navigate the infamous Goodwin Sands until it was decommissioned in 1988. It is famed for its status as the first electric lighthouse and is the site of the first ever international radio broadcast. Lighthouses replaced simple beacon fires lit along the cliffs. The remains of a Roman lighthouse (Pharos) can be seen within the grounds of Dover Castle, near the church.
Point of interest
Watch out for kittiwakes in summer, breeding on tiny ledges on precipitous cliffs. They can be very noisy birds. Also listen out for the melodies of skylark and meadow pipit filing the air. As well as kittiwake, fulmar live here in summer and you may see a peregrine falcon swooping from the cliff walls where they breed. They hunt pigeons to feed their fledglings. Some areas of scrub have been left to grow as they provide shelter for warblers like the whitethroat, and for colourful seed eaters, linnet and yellowhammer.
4. Return to ‘Gateway to the White Cliffs’ visitor centre, following a surfaced path just inland, this time keeping the sea on your left.
End: Gateway to the White Cliffs visitor centre, grid ref: TR336422
