Jurassic Coast

Jurassic Coast Path Walk, Dorsett

9th March 2013

Cal was hoping to finish some of her sugar flowers for a competition that is less than a week away, so it was a day out alone for me. Darn, I just broke my reading glasses, so must look a right idiot typing this up in the pub with one lens going this way, and the other going that. Back to the story . . . 

So, where to go, and what to do. I chose to go for a walk, for two reasons: First, I'm puting on too much weight and can do with the exercise, and second, it's something that I can't do when Cal is with me. So, where to go. I thought that maybe some coastline would look good, so Google to the rescue, and out pops Lulworth Cove as a starting point.

The detours are courtesy of Mr Tom Tom, when I discovered that there was a level crossing closed for maintenance.

There is no way that Cal could have made this walk. For a start it was about 13 km long, and secondly, it was up an down coastal path, and the hills were NOT for the faint hearted. They would have been easily 30º, and in some places felt like 45º. Google Earth gave gradients of about 35%. With the sun poking through, and the hills, it was down to a T-shirt and I was still sweating. 

So, what was there to see? I started the walk in West Lulworth, well, Lulworth Cove to be precise. There was a good Heritage Centre (this part of the coast is a world heritage area - opened by the Prince of Wales in 2002). From there I received some last minute directions from the very helpful lady at the desk. The area is well renowned for its geological formations and there was more than one school class out on the weekend . . . such devotion. 

Lulworth Cove

From the cove, it was UP the path on the first of the up-down-up-down-up-etc hills.

Looking back to Lulworth Cove from the walk

The nice wide (but still steep) climb from the cove

The first stop was Durdle Door, which is a natural rock arch formation - very spectacular (and I now have a fridge magnet of it). At this stage the sun started to poke through, and the white cliffs started to shine.

There was a lot of evidence that the cliff tops are not stable, and so I was very cautious at the top. Every now and then I found myself following a path that came a little close, so it was a quick photo and then back a few metres in land.

Along the path, I spied my first spring daffodils along the path, but I couldn't do anything artistic with them, but there were tufted grasses and other flowers that I could do something with :-). The tufted grasses have been the natural vegetation since the end of the last Ice Age, but 80% of the habitat has been replaced by more productive high yield grasses for grazing animals. 

The coastline looked a treat with the sun out.

The sun and exercise resulted in sweaty hair, but that was soon to be replaced with wet hair from the big fog that rolled in from the sea. This cooled things down, but meant that visibility was reduced down to 50-100m over the course of about 15 minutes.

The fog looked pretty spectacular coming in (I do like my camera :-))

I'd planned to walk to the White Nothe (pronounced as "nose" with a "th"). From there you can see Weymouth, Portland Island and Poole . . . well you could if there wasn't a big fog. I still made it to White Nothe as there was machine gun pill boxes from WWII on the bluff. There was also a steep and hazardous smugglers path to the beach, but the feet were getting sore, and knew the climb back up would be fun (NOT) - 115 m up.

The way back was a lot easier (although there was plenty of farmland mud to be had). At this stage the feet were asking the brain why the heck it thought this was a good idea. The brain responded with "suck it up, there's no other way to get back", and then there was the the Stair and the Cove still to be visited. 

OK, so not the farm, but at least it was a flat part of the Coastal Path.

There was this gate in the middle of nowhere - no fences attached to it, so I had to use it!!

The stair was another popular spot for the students, with vertical sedimentary rocks (pushed up when Africa collided with Europe).

I actually wrote this in a Badger pub on the way home "the Black Bear" - 4 runs - in a town called Wool. A great pub, that also serves English happy meals and ice cream. One might understand the latter in summer, and OK it was a warm 10º today, but the snow is on it's way back tonight - it's currently snowing in Norwich and it's on it's way here - snow tomorrow and Monday!!!

With my feet rested, I'll finish my pint and head on home to the good woman, have dinner, and get cracking with post processing photos and getting this on the blog, and leave you with a map of the walk, and the elevation profile.