Skye Sheep. October 2023.
You should go to Skye. As soon as you can. Stay in a cabin. Hike the hills. Swim in the sea. Wrap yourself in a wool blanket and drink whiskey by the fire as a cold rain provides steady percussion on the tin roof. Revel in the natural beauty that surrounds you.
I didn’t even realize Dover had a castle. I was only heading there for the cliffs. Imagine my surprise when I rounded a turn into the town and glanced up to see a castle atop the next rise. Since my exploring policy mandates stopping for tall and/or shiny objects, I obviously needed to find a good vantage point for pictures of the castle. As it turns out, you can turn around and see it from the cliffs themselves.
There are several paths from the upper parking area along the White Cliffs of Dover. It seems I picked the skinniest of them all. With a sheer drop a few inches to my right and a steep cliff on my left, I made my way along the path to an outcropping in the failing light. The view was breath taking, so I snapped a few pictures and took in the view before making my way down to a flatter, more stable, area to set up the tripod I actually remembered to bring along on this trip.
The Port of Dover. March 2021.
The Cliffs at Dusk.
On the way back I picked a different path that was much more inviting and provided a little more forgiveness for missteps. Because by the time I was hiking back it was dark. And because this time I forgot my flashlight.
Oh and there were donkeys. Silent, assassin donkeys that you don’t notice in the dark until an inadvertent sideways glace finds a donkey face two feet away from your own.
