England · United Kingdom
Dover to Deal
A258Dover to Deal
The downs road behind the white cliffs, from Dover to Deal.
The A258 climbs out of Dover past the castle and crosses the downs about a mile behind the white cliffs, with turn-offs to St Margaret’s Bay, then drops through Ringwould to meet the sea at Walmer and run along Deal’s seafront. A rolling, open road; mind the crosswinds on the downs, cyclists grinding up the climbs, and the busy traffic near the ports and towns.
On the road
The road runs from Dover to Deal. It leaves Dover up Castle Hill, with Dover Castle on one side and the Duke of York’s Royal Military School on the other. At the top it crosses the A2 at the Guston roundabout. From there it heads north through Ringwould into Walmer. In Deal it runs along the seafront as the Strand and passes Deal Castle.
Dover Castle, run by English Heritage, holds Henry II’s Great Tower and a network of wartime tunnels. St Margaret’s at Cliffe lies just off the road and makes a good detour. Channel swimmers set out from St Margaret’s Bay, close by. At Leathercote Point stands the Dover Patrol Monument, a granite obelisk 23 metres tall. It honours the Royal Navy’s Dover Patrol in the First World War, and its twin stands across the water at Cap Blanc-Nez, near Calais.
Walmer Castle and Deal Castle are Tudor forts built under Henry VIII, and English Heritage runs both. Walmer has been the official home of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports for nearly three centuries. Its rooms are currently closed for conservation work, but the gardens are open. A memorial on the Walmer seafront marks where Julius Caesar is said to have landed in 55 BC.
Dover to Deal on the map8.5 mi · point to point
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Character
Corners
busiest around mile 8Elevation
under 4%4 to 8%over 8%3 to 124 mPoints of interest2 stops
- Dover Castle Spur TunnelsLandmark0.7 mi in
- Julius Caesar Landing plaqueLandmark7.6 mi in
Hazards
- Coastal crosswinds
- Cyclists on the climbs
- Port and town traffic
Sources
“The shaded S-bends, breath-taking elevations and fast sections alternating with slow scenic sections makes this road a must-drive”
Route traced from OpenStreetMap, with its stats measured from that line. How the roads are mapped
Routes for iPhone carries Dover to Deal offline, with live weather and a 7 day forecast.
Nearby roads
The closest great drives to Dover to Deal.
