July 1 - Hello Dover, Goodbye Seabourn Quest 🇬🇧

Today marks the start of chapter 2 of our summer adventure. We bid farewell to the spectacular Seabourn Quest and enjoy a day in Dover. After having become sea slugs the past 4 days, we managed 15,000 steps today hiking along the White Cliffs of Dover to the town of St. Margaret’s at Cliffe. It’s a little known fact that Ian Fleming, the creator of one of the most thrilling spies the world has ever known, James Bond (agent 007), made his home in a beautiful house on the beach of St. Margaret’s and wrote many of his novels looking out over the English Channel. Fleming loved Kent, the county in which Dover is situated. Kent has been host to three of the James Bond feature films providing locations for the 1967 version of Casino Royale, Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough. For film & TV fans, several locations in the area have been used for filming: The Other Boleyn Girl (Scarlet Johansson at Dover Castle 2008), To Kill a King (Dougray Scott at Dover Castle 2003), The Missing (Pauline Quirk at Dover town & seafront 2009). Today, Debb and I stared in our own hit “Dover Waterfront,” the spot across the street from our hotel is where the English Channel swimmers practice daily and launch from whenever there’s an attempted crossing. The fastest to swim was a fellow from Australia in 2012 who did it in just under 7 hours. The longest, a lady from Dover who took more than 24 hours to make it across.

Bluebirds, blue skies and a blue-eyed lady over the White Cliffs of Dover

Like the Cliffs of Mohr in Ireland, the White Cliffs of Dover are completely unprotected at the edge. One wrong step and you’re a goner. Makes my knees weak!

A beautiful day for a walk along the cliffs. Several of our fellow cruisers asked us why the he** we’d stay overnight in Dover...well, we did if for this!

Dover Castle, the most iconic English Fortress Commanding The Gateway to The Realm for 9 centuries. It has been described as “the key to England” due to its defensive significance throughout history.

At The White Cliffs of Dover they use 2 herds of Exmoor ponies to control the ever-encroaching thickets of scrub brush so that the fine chalk grassland flowers are able to thrive.

Our waterfront hotel on the Marine Parade in Dover