The white cliffs... more of a dark grey

Our last day of travelling in Britain today, where we drove south all the way to the coast and Dover. Given that it was our last day and all, we decided to go straight to the White Cliffs of Dover, rather than going to our hotel first.

Dover on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81692166@N05/sets/72157647343129007/

After abandoning mum because she didn’t want to walk the length of the trail, we headed off on our merry way. The weather was decent, on the walk over, and I was really impressed, not by the cliffs themselves, but by the ruggedness of the coastline. It’s hard to describe, it just “had that feel about it”, with just the right amount of flowering bushes mixed in with barbed-wire and wood fences and green grass:

Rugged White Cliffs

Of course there are the white cliffs, which are pretty spectacular, although you can’t actually go down to sea level any more - there was a landslide several years ago that they still haven’t deemed safe to traverse. I’m having flashbacks to Cinque Terre here:

The White Cliffs

The sunshine lasted until we reached the lighthouse, when we realised it was going to rain. We had a tour of said lighthouse, which was actually quite interesting. All the old machinery was still there, and we got to turn the old handle and watch one of the original mechanisms rotate the light. The lighthouse has long since shut down after the dangerous reefs shifted to the west by several miles:

The lighthouse of the White Cliffs

We power-walked the way back, not wanting to get too wet. As it turned out it didn’t rain too heavily, but the white cliffs had turned a fabulously mediocre grey in colour. Booo-ring!

Back to our hotel, where we walked around to a local pub and had another traditional British pub meal - our very last! Tomorrow we’ll throw mum out at the train station in Dover, where she’ll embark on the rest of her trip. We’ll get the ferry across the Channel and cruise on down to Paris. Until tomorrow!

Back to university?

On to Cambridge today, and one of the few places in England that I insisted we visit. Having never been before, I was keen to see some of the universities and their architecture.

You can see Cambridge on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81692166@N05/sets/72157647343129017/

After picking a (relative expensive) car park, we walked along one of the major thoroughfares for a while, coming across the Fitzwilliam Museum. It’s a fantastic collection of artwork and historical artefacts, including an Egyptian sarcophagus (which I didn’t get to see). While going and seeing it properly would have been nice, we were limited with time, so decided against it:

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Then we got to the core of Cambridge: its universities. At this point we split up, as I wanted to do some exploring, whereas mum and dad were more content to wander around the other part of town. They weren’t free to get into - I suspect that may have had something to do with it.

First up I went into Queens College, one of the smaller universities, and walked through a few of its buildings and along the River Cam. Cambridge is known for its ‘punting’ along this small canal-like river, and I personally think it is way too commercialised. There are dozens of them in a continuous chain going up- and downriver, as well as a few causing havoc in their amateurish attempts at punting:

Queens College and the River Cam

My next target was Kings College. I ended up not going in, as not only had I forgotten my student card for discounted entry, but the entry fee was enormous. I think it was 7 or 8 pounds each. Something I can leave to next time - because I will surely be coming back.

A bit more of a cruise around later, I headed back to our meeting point at the Fitzwilliam Museum, as I was out of phone credit. We ended up walking back to the car the long way, when I had the good fortune to stumble upon Pembroke College. This college was almost the smallest of them all, but with the most fantastic colour contrasts in its buildings and trees:

Pembroke College

That was about the end of Cambridge for us. Mum and dad at least - there is so much here to see that I’ll definitely be back one day. We’re staying about a half-hour north of Cambridge tonight, and we’ll journey to Dover tomorrow. The end is in sight!

Some more from today

The city proper

Today we were able to get our hosts to take us into the town of King’s Lynn. It’s by no means a large town, but it still has its fair share of things to see and do.

More photos on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81692166@N05/sets/72157647245721700/

We didn’t drive into the city, but rather to the car park for a small ferry, which has run back and forth across the river for the best part of 600 years (not always motor-powered of course). From there we wandered around the older part of King’s Lynn, with the highest concentration of taller and older buildings:

Historic centre

We passed through a small park on our way to The Walks, dedicated to World War II victims. Quite pretty as well:

Another small park

Then, we moved on towards The Walks. The park features several small old buildings, including a chapel that pilgrims came to for many years - evidenced by the 17th-century equivalent of “XYZ was here” graffiti:

The Walks

From there we took a reasonably direct route back to the ferry, and went back to Terrington St. Clement to prepare for an evening meal out. We went to what our hosts called a pub with “a South African twist on food”. While we didn’t quite see the South African twist, the food was still good. British food is wacko sometimes - they order a curry on a bed of hot chips, among other weird things.

We’re definitely winding down on the trip now, we will stay overnight in Cambridge, with a half-day to explore. See you there!

Local attractions

For our first of two days in King’s Lynn, we decided to visit a couple of local attractions. I say local, they were about a half-hour’s drive away each.

Photos from today on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81692166@N05/sets/72157647245721700/

Our first destination was Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Gardens. The medieval hall dates back to the mid-15th century, and has been really well-kept by the local council. You can even see parts of the original walls and roof beams through glass panels:

Ayscoughfee Hall

Surrounding the hall is a public green space. It felt really open, but they’ve packed a lot in, from manicured hedge gardens to sports places to green spaces surrounded by enormous trees:

Surrounding gardens

Our second planned visit was to Wisbech, a small town adorned with Georgian architecture. Its small river has been part of a couple of movies, with its chain of buildings on each side:

Wisbech

Tomorrow hopefully we’ll have a chance to explore King’s Lynn proper. See you then!