Wild Weeds of Dover

Tomorrow we Sail

I see France

We got our first glimpse of France across the English Channel as we stood at the top of the chalk cliffs lining the south east of England.

Ivy and brambles cover the cliff chalk.

Battle of Britain Memorial

This one is mine!

We wandered down a cliff top track to the Battle of Britain Memorial where large grassy mounds proved too tempting for the girls. Grass stained jeans resulted after a tumble down.
A large propeller, best seen from the air, had been constructed with inlaid white bricks as the blades and the ground rose to the hub which had a sculpture of a fighter pilot sitting on it with all the squadrons emblems cut into the hub around him.
Two replica spitfires were set up. The girls wondered why they had been painted with targets on them. A sign told us that many of the fliers had been trained at a base in Cambridge.  We have heard that their September air show is one of the

best so will be watching out for that.

Honeysuckle - scented meters away

Thistles

Poppies

Some sort of violet.

Caterpillar weed

Daisy

Bramble Hedge

Another thistle type

No prickles but looks like a soft thistle to me.

White Daisy

Our favourite - Gorse

The photos here are of the colourful weeds growing along the path in great abundance. Many can be found at home in Canterbury NZ.  Why did the settlers take their weeds with them?  All these plants give a purply haze to the grasses along the cliff tops so maybe they just wanted to add some colour to the green, green bush of the new land.

Introduced weeds?

The wind was cool so we ducked back to the Fawlty Towers style hotel for tea.

The Lighthouse B&B - Folkestone

The cat, Alfie, tried to follow her back to the B&B

Next morning we caught an early P&O Ferry across to the continent! One and a half hours later we drove off and onto Paris.

Dover Castle atop the cliffs.

The cliffs disappear as we cross the channel.

On board breakfast - good hot chocolate, lard fried bread ugh.