Travel with me #61 : To the end of the world - Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters Cliffs! (photos+video)

Greetings Steemit Friends:

Once in a while, the UK gifts it's inhabitants with lovely weather as well as the extra time to go out and enjoy said weather. This weekend, was one of those few opportunities with a small heatwave hitting the UK in conjunction with the long weekend and bank holiday.

Check out my video!

It is during these rare opportunities that people and households will take their families and friends out in cars, on a trip out of town to enjoy some more tranquil and natural environments.

My getaway was a day trip to the Seven Sisters Cliffs in the south of England.

Seven Sisters

Although there are quite a few other Seven Sisters locations in the UK, for instance in Tottenham, and a London Underground station, perhaps the most famous one would be the Seven Sisters Chalk Cliffs located between Seaford and Eastbourne in Southern England.

They are a natural but disappearing wonder. Remnants of the dry valleys of the chalk South Downs. Each year, they recede by about 30 or 40 centimetres due to natural erosion. As the tide comes in and out, the cliffs are eroded leaving behind a base of chalk.

This area is protected by the natural trust, so is relatively free of man made developments. At Birling Gap, there are just a few houses and a coffee shop for visitors.

Why is it called Seven Sisters?

As you can see, the Chalk cliffs form a series of peaks and dips, each of which have their own respective names. There are seven hills in total. According to legend, there were seven sisters who each had a house between the hills.

The Beach and Coastline

The beach is easily accessible at Birling Gap where where there is a man made access point of steps which lead to the beach. As you can see, the beach is composed of mostly rocks and pebbles, not the usual sandy beaches you're accustomed to seeing me visit. There are rock pools and algae all along the beach which make a lovely contrast of green and white against the Chalk Cliffs.

Because it's not a sandy beach, there are very few people here who are sunbathing. I saw a group of people having a barbeque, and quite a number of people who brought their dogs for a walk along the beach.

There were also some geologists here who were collecting some pebbles for some research. Apparently there are many fossils embedded within the rocks and pebbles.

Fly with me!

With such a beautiful landscape, it was a perfect opportunity to get some footage with my ever trusty DJI Phantom 4 drone.
Unfortunately, DJI decided to update all of their apps just the day before I left. I wasn't aware of this update and assumed that the version on my iPad would be backwards compatible anyway. I was wrong.

Whilst preparing my drone for flight, I couldn't get the app run. It prompted me to update the app which usually would have been fine - after all, that's what my 4G hotspot is for.. But out here at the end of the world, there was virtually no signal at all.

Somehow, after frantically walking up and down the beach, I was able to find a tiny bit of signal, and spent the next hour or so downloading the update which was only around 96mb in size!

notes to oneself: update the app before setting off on future trips

With some luck, I was able to get the drone flying.