As much as I love London, I know that the UK is more than just its capital city. Now that I’m here on a longer term basis, I’ve made it my goal to explore more of it, and to check off those bucket list sights that I’ve not seen before. It’ll probably take me a while to get through all of them, but I figured that the Cliffs of Dover, and passing through Canterbury would be a good start.

Getting to Canterbury and Dover

From London Saint Pancras, the train journey to Canterbury is around 50 minutes to Canterbury West. You can also take the slower, commuter train from Victoria, which can take anywhere from a little over an hour, to two hours, and arrives into Canterbury East. Typically the slower train is a little cheaper, but I’ve got a Rail Card, so they were around the same price, which meant I opted for the higher speed version. The train was headed to Margate, but I got off in Canterbury initially as my “home base” for this quick trip.

From Canterbury to Dover is around 30 minutes, and that service runs every half hour out of Canterbury East. It made a fair number of stops between the two, but then finally, I arrived in Dover. Much to my dismay, it was raining, and grey (which isn’t uncommon for England at this time of the year, but I digress), and didn’t look at all like a good day to see the cliffs. Nevertheless, I’d made the journey out to Dover, so I was going to continue on to the cliffs. When the weather is nicer, you can do the 40-60 minute walk up to the cliffs, but given that the skies were not playing ball, I took a cab up to the visitor’s centre at the cliffs. It was only around £8, and worth it for keeping me dry for the journey.

The Cliffs of Dover

The sight I came to see. The visitor’s centre doesn’t look like much when you first arrive, but it’s got a lovely cafe inside, a shop, and very helpful National Trust employees who can offer you tips, or just a kind word. I got a map with the different view points, and was told that a short ten-minute walk away would be the first viewpoint of the cliffs. I was told that view is essentially what you get the whole way, and also not to go too far beyond that as it would be very muddy (I wasn’t dressed for a jaunt through the mud). I started out and within minutes it began hailing, with biting winds. Not exactly a warm welcome! Quickly turning around, I decided to hunker down in the visitor’s centre with a scone with clotted cream and jam to see if I could wait out the passing squall.

Eventually, blue skies appeared in the distance, and it looked like the rain might hold off for a little. I bundled up again and headed out to the first viewing point and there the cliffs were! They were absolutely stunning in person, and I’ll admit I spent quite a bit of time taking photos as there was nobody else around – when will that ever happen again?? I can see how walking further along would get you closer, and I know there’s a lovely trail that takes you all along the coast, but with the weather not being able to decide whether it would stay dry or not, and the ever growing mud, it seemed prudent to not go much further. I couldn’t see France due to the weather (on a clear day, you can see it), but I watched the ferries coming and going. One day I’ll have to do the ferry to get that stunning view from the Channel as well.

After I’d taken my (far too many) photos, I went back to the visitor’s centre to peruse the gift shop. I got a National Trust book of scone recipes, which I’m excited to try out, and then called a taxi to head back to the train station. I had thought about doing Dover Castle, but according to the National Trust employees, you need at least half a day for that, and given how long I’d spent waiting for the rain to pass, I didn’t have that much time left. Next time!

Canterbury

Coming back into Canterbury, the rain had started up again, so I made my way to Canterbury Cathedral. Entrance is £14, and then you can visit all that the cathedral has to offer. It’s unfortunately under a fair amount of scaffolding at the moment, but you can still admire its grandeur. I was told to first start outside to see the (what looks like new) sculptures of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. I’m not sure when they were done, but the color of the material is different than the rest, so you know it’s more recent that the rest of the building (although yes, I know the cathedral very much predates all recent monarchs).

Inside you have the place where Thomas Becket was murdered, as well as the tombs of the Black Prince and Henry IV. They’ve also got some exhibitions of the progression of the church in England, including the Black Prince’s armor (recently returned from the V&A), Bibles from Henry VIII’s time, and more. I also found it fascinating how much graffiti there was in the cathedral, dating back centuries. It’s lovely to see that’s been preserved. You can also walk around outside in the cloisters. I, for one, always love looking at the stained glass in cathedrals, and Canterbury Cathedral certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front.

There are a few other things in Canterbury I didn’t quite get to due to time constraints, but luckily for me, it’s not too far away from London, so I can easily get back to see what I missed, and head back to Dover for the Dover Castle. Here’s to more UK adventures!