Subtitle:

We were in Dover from Friday September 26 to Sunday September 28, 2025.

We explored the town on Friday afternoon a little, then checked into the Inn around 3pm, and then took a grassy hiking trail along the top of the cliffs west of town. We walked for maybe an hour before turning around. We wanted to get back before it got dark.



Friday September 27, 2025.



001-Dover_West_Panorama-header: Downtown Dover 001-Dover_West_Panorama-headertext:

Dover is a port town, located 21 miles/33 km from France. The white chalk cliffs and Dover Castle are a draw for tourists. Archaeological finds have shown the area was occupied in the Stone Age and the Iron Age. The area feels a little depressed these days with empty stores and house prices that seemed fairly low. A train line links it to London. We wantered around waterfront area while we waited for check-in time and walked around the Prince of Wales Pier. We saw a lot of ferries coming and going. 001-Dover_West_Panorama: Panoramic shot looking west towards the Dover port downtown. 002-Dover_East_Panorama: Panoramic shot looking east towards Dover castle. 003-DSC_0306: The White Cliffs of Dover, with some strange platform on top. 004-DSC_0307: An Irish Ferries ferry leaving Dover port. 005-DSC_0308: A ferry at Dover Port. 006-DSC_0309: Dover port. 007-DSC_0310: Looking west towards downtown Dover. 008-DSC_0311: 009-DSC_0312: The Clock Tower and former Lifeboat House on the Prince of Wales Pier in downtown Dover. 010-DSC_0313: Dover castle on top of the cliffs with the Dover port on the right. 011-DSC_0314: White chalk cliffs just east of Dover. 012-DSC_0315: Some of the Dover white cliffs. 013-DSC_0316: A strange platform on top of the cliff. Guess I'll never know what it is. 014-DSC_0317: WWII-era officer's barracks. 015-DSC_0318: The Roman-era Pharos lighthouse next to the St. Mary's church. 016-Dover_Castle_Panorama: A panoramic shot of Dover Castle on top of one of the cliffs just east of town. Going from left to right the picture includes the castle wall and the outer wall with "the great tour" (the castle) rising above it. To the right, just above the flag and flagpole in the foreground is St. Mary's in Castro Church with the 1st century Roman lighthouse, Pharos, attached to it, just to the left of the flagpole. The WWII officer's quarters are to the right and at the end is the platform used for spotting incoming boats or planes from Germany. Just below the platform is a communication post. 017-DSC_0329: The Clock Tower and former Lifeboat House on the Prince of Wales Pier in downtown Dover. 017-DSC_0329-footer: The Guardian of Forever 017-DSC_0329-footertext:

In the center of downtown Dover, they had a sort of sculpture / fountain / installation. Apparently it is just a few years old (as of 2025) and has no fucking name! It is only referred to as “a water feature.” I saw one reference to the Stargate Fountain but that seems like just a one-off. It could be a sort of Time Tunnel or similar portal. But really, it reminds me of the Guardian of Forever in the original series Star Trek episode City on the Edge of Forever. (I'd provide a link to the Guardian or the episode but anything I found was way too long.

This sculpture has a series of rings with mist spraying through them. Depending on the wind that day, anything beyond the second ring was pretty obscurred. I wanted to get a series of pictures of me going through it that I could turn into an animated GIF, as a reference to any of Dr. McCoy, Mr. Spock, or Captain Kirk coming back through the Guardian's portal.

Because of various factors, this was the best I could do. There was a kid who was riding his bike through it. I had to wait for him to get out of the frame and watch me act like a dork (it comes naturally). I didn't want to have to do it more than 3 times (once was explaining my artistic vision, once was a version with a bad camera angle, and then this one). Also the sound of the mist spraying made it hard to tell if my friend who was operating the camera had actually told me to start.

I didn't feel like using Photoshop to add the glow around the edge of the circle and didn't feel like spending the time trying to animate the mist, stealing it from various in-between pictures. Also, after spending 5 or 10 minutes trying to find an example of a GIF with a clip of someone coming out of of the Guardian of Forever from the original show, I had to admit defeat. Too much crap clogging the search engines. Anyway, here is my recreation of that moment without special effects.

So enjoy this, for what it's worth (which is not much, I know).

018-DSC_0341-header: White Cliffs of Dover 018-DSC_0341-headertext:

After checking-in and dropping off our stuff, we decided to walk along a grassy path on top of the cliffs to the west of town. We had a few hours before sunset, so we headed out. The first part was walking on the sidewalk alongside the highway (A20) which was packed with a lot of trucks ("lorries") spewing a lot of fumes, and wasn't super-pleasant at times. But then the trails up and down the hills was far enough away from the trucks (and maybe there was a seabreeze) so the air become less noxious. There was a fence to limit people from wandering to the drop-off of where the grass ends and the cliffs and plummeting beging (shortly followed by death).

There were Exmoore ponies that were grazing in one part of the hills. They weren't scared of us, but they didn't seem super friendly either. I assume they're used to people herding them around a bit, but most of the time they're on their own, so people aren't their buddies.

We went up and down 2 or 3 of the hills and then decided it was time to head back as it would get dark in a little over an hour. The trip back was uneventful. The views were impressive. 018-DSC_0341: 019-DSC_0342: Aycliffe, a little village on the inland side of the A20 motorway by Dover. 020-DSC_0343: Stephanie and Newman and the white chalk cliffs of Dover (and the A20 motorway). 021-DSC_0345: The Exmoore Ponies were ambibalent towards people. We gave them space. 022-DSC_0346: Looking back at Dover and the path we took that was pretty close to the edge. 023-DSC_0348: Stephanie and Newman on a Dover Cliff (with the A20 in the background). 024-DSC_0349: Exmoore ponies on a Dover cliff with the town and port in the distance. 025-DSC_0350: Frank by a train tunnel air vent with Dover Cliffs in the distance. 026-DSC_0352: The cliff path keeps going up; but a bit to the left is very down. 027-DSC_0353: A bank of fans that provide ventilation tot he train tunnel. 028-DSC_0355: Newman looks to the east at a bright and bold future (actually, it's overcast). 029-DSC_0356: Newman and Stepahnie head down the cliffside path in Dover. The cylinder coming out of the grass ahead is a vent shaft for the train tunnel that goes underneath the hill. 030-DSC_0358: Frank finds evidence of some ancient, gigantic chess match (or vent shaft). 031-DSC_0359: Looking to the northeast at the Dover cliffs and train tracks exiting a tunnel. 032-DSC_0361: Another view of the Dover cliffs and train tracks coming out of a tunnel. 033-DSC_0363: Flowers by the cliff edge and train tracks and Dover port in the distance. 034-DSC_0365: Downtown Dover at night with Dover Castle on the hill. Bottom: