Chalk Cliffs and Canterbury Tails (Nope, that's not a typo!)

 May 4, 2025

Dover, United Kingdom

"There is a cliff, whose high and bending head looks fearfully in the confined deep: Bring me to the very brim of it." ~ King Lear, Shakespeare

The iconic chalk of the Dover headland is blindingly white in full sun. Even on this overcast day, it glitters from quite a distance. As the Sky made our approach, a wave of deja vu swept over me. Back in 2012, we did an around the British Isles cruise that also included a stop at L'Havre, France. The chalk face on that southern side of the English Channel is much shorter and less expansive, but it seemed obvious to me then that at one time Brittain was connected directly to Europe.

On this world cruise we had a geologist who gave fascinating lectures. We learned that the "original Brexit" actually took place only about 8,000 years ago, a literal blink in geological time. A cataclysmic event caused the North Sea to rush down across the lowland between the continent and Brittain, separating them permanently in an act of nature as devastating and swift as the one that buried Pompeii. We're taught to think that as things are, so have they always been. However, when it comes to this old blue ball, "it aint necessarily so." Sometimes changes, major changes, happen too quickly for people to even react.      

We took an included tour to the village of Canterbury. Since it was a Sunday, I was so hopeful we'd be able to slip into the worship service, but we arrived too late to join in and would need to ride back to port before we could join a tour of the cathedral later that afternoon. It made me wistful for the freedom to explore independently that we enjoyed on our Seville On Your Own day. 

But Canterbury is a charming village with narrow lanes lined with period homes and businesses. I guess I'd always thought Cat Cafes were an urban myth, but we did come across one in our wanderings! The "Canterbury Tails" was a delight!