Date: 22-Jun-2008
Map: Landranger 194 and 195, OL 15
Weather: Bright sunshine all day, with a
very strong sea-breeze
A
walk along the south west coastal path from Osmington Mills
to the Square and Compass at Worth Matravers:
18 miles – as measured with my I-Pod headphones (18.5 miles
on the map)…39750 steps.
After a wet start
to a week break in Dorset, the day dawned bright and sunny. The forecast was
for fine weather all day so I set off for the start with
plenty of fluid in my pack. I was looking forward to this
walk as it takes in some famous coastal features and some
unique geological strata. I was lucky enough to have my
daughter available to give me a lift back to the car at the
end of the day, so I parked up at Osmington Mills near
Weymouth, at the side of the road.
The start of the walk passed by the side of the Smugglers
Inn, a fine eating place in the evening, with good food and
good service.
The
Smugglers Inn
The
start, looking back towards
Weymouth
White
Nothe from
Ringstead
Bay
It was
lovely being out in the bright sunshine and the only mistake
I made today was not slapping on enough sun cream on my
legs, arms and neck! The next day I was a little tender in
places – factor 50 would have been a good solution. I didn’t
really notice the burning due to the strong cooling breeze,
another Homer Simpson moment. The path gently ascended the
cliffs and I had a good view of Ringstead village and the
bay. The wind surfers were bombing along on the wind, really
leaning into it and flying over the waves. The higher ground
above Ringstead Bay
is called Burning Cliff, named due to a spontaneous fire in
1826 – it must have been a puzzle at the time. The fire was
supposed to have been started by heat generated by the
decomposition of pyrite, a common constituent of the
bituminous shale - you can find iron pyrite nodules on the
beach at Charmouth. But the site of the burning has long ago
been covered by vegetation and I had far enough to travel
without a diversion at the start of the day. I passed by the
big landslips (a common feature of this coastline) where the
chalk had slumped down over the underlying shale - you can
see cracks developing for future landslips. I looked back
periodically to get views back to Weymouth and the Isle of
Portland, the sea sparkling blue against the white chalk
cliffs – very refreshing in the sea breeze.
Burning Cliff above
Ringstead
Bay
Towards White Nothe
The
roller coaster path ahead
This
walk made a nice contrast to the mountains of the
Lake District I had been walking in the last few
months. Any ideas that I was in for an easy day were soon
dispelled as I reached the top of the White Nothe cliffs.
The views opened up ahead of me to the east, and the
landscape looked like a roller coaster up and down the grass
slopes. Some of them were quite steep in places, so much so
that the grass had eroded down to a series of steps which
made the ascents a little easier. The sea colour next to
these cliffs takes on a whitish hue due to the washing away
of the soft chalk, which will inevitably lead to more
landslips as the cliffs become undercut. Further along the
coast as the geology changes, the sea becomes greyer due to
the claystones and shales. I didn’t see too many seabirds
today - the only ones were common gulls soaring above the
cliff tops on the strong winds. These massive cliffs must
have been lovely rolling hills before the
English Channel was formed, and there are signs
(lumps, bumps and barrows) of ancient occupation all along
the coast. Old field systems can be seen in places, and they
are marked as Strip Lynchets on the OS map. There is a
triangular beacon along the path just before the views of
Durdle Door and Lulworth come into view, and shortly
afterwards a delightful marker stone with directions for
Lulworth, Durdle Door and the Warren….and the stone mason
made sure that there was room for Scratchy Bottom!!
Ooh a
little bit lower…
The
view from the top to the east
Looking back to the White Nothe cliffs – a strong summer
light
Durdle Door comes into view
I love
the old names that our ancestors gave to places, and they
are very apt at times. If you get hold of any OS map of any
part of
Britain
I’m sure you could find some comedy names in a quick glance
of the map – e.g. the River Piddle is a little north of the
coast, but don’t take a drink from it. After a bit more of
the switchback walk, the famous Durdle Door comes into full
view, along with a lot of holidaymakers visiting the
‘honeypot’ site of Lulworth. The crowds were not too bad
today and knowing that most don’t venture more than a 100m
from the car park, I wasn’t too bothered. There was a good
mix of sunbathers and geology\geography students on the
beach below – some laid out taking the rays, alongside the
hard hats of the students! I didn’t walk down to the beach
as I had a good enough view from the cliff top path. I
passed through the big car park and bought an overpriced ice
cream cornet – it was very welcome though.
If
the path goes down…you know its back up the other side..
Closer to Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove
The
tourist path down to Durdle Door
Lulworth Cove and the big car park
The
cove – a safe haven for the lone fishing boat
When I
reached Lulworth Cove at the end of the road I had the
choice of walking along the beach or up behind the cove. So
I made my way up a side path and gained height and a good
overview of the cove.
The cove is
probably the best training location in the world for geology
students. There are excellent exposures of folded Jurassic
and Cretaceous strata and on the cliffs to the east is the Fossil
Forest
with an ancient soil and tree remains. There are glauconitic
sandstones, sponge chert, cyclical Chalk, oil sands,
lignite, ostracods, stromatolites, crocodile and fish teeth,
an oyster bed, a transgressive marine pebble bed, a fluvial
channel conglomerate, phosphatic strata, carbonate breccias,
charophyte limestones etc. etc. The Lower Cretaceous,
Purbeck Formation is contorted into the Lulworth Crumples at
Stair Hole and the spectacular coast around here has caves,
natural arches, sea-stacks and high cliffs of
nearly-vertical Chalk. It can be studied at all levels from
beginner level with basic geomorphology, to inversion
tectonics and isotope geochemistry and spectral
gamma
ray logging. Did you take all that in? Good – I’ll carry on
with the walk now. I didn’t visit Stair Hole where you can
see all the folded strata, but I did stop to look at the
fossil forest just beyond the cove. The cove was formed when
the sea breached the harder Portland Limestone and then
eroded away the softer claystones behind forming the
horseshoe cove – it is a lovely spot though and it is no
surprise that so many people come here. The fossil forest
lies within the army firing range, so it is only accessible
at weekends or at certain times of the year. The actual
forest is a mould of the trees that once grew here 135
million years ago, and you can also see the ancient soils
below. Looking at the picture you’d have to say it was a bad
case of pre-historic piles!
Walking down the east side of the cove towards the firing
range walk
Looking over to the west side of the cove
The
fossil forest – the round bits are the moulds of the ancient
trees
The
path ahead was now within the firing ranges and you are
meant to stay within the yellow marker posts to be safe. I
saw plenty of sheep wandering around outside of these posts
but none exploded – instant roast lamb I suppose. The walk
was along an easy grass path for a mile or so to Mupe Rocks,
where I turned left and had to ascend the huge chalk cliff
above Mupe Bay.
Looking up I could see a large fissure in the chalk, which
extends down the cliff side for some distance. I think the
path will need some diversion soon. The walk up was hot work
and there wasn’t a lot of room to the right, it felt very
airy with the strong wind blowing. Fortunately for me it was
coming from the SW and effectively blowing me onto dry land
as opposed to the void on my right. But up on top the views
over the tank ranges were worth the effort.
The
view from Mupe Rocks
More
cliffs to walk up the side – nice and steep for a change!!
The
biggest crack I’ve seen for a while
Looking down to Mupe Rocks
…and
now you’re at the top…back down again..
A
lovely spot for lunch
There
is a large barracks at Lulworth Camp and further around is
East Lulworth with its fine castle. In between
the ground is littered with old tanks and other vehicles –
some looking the worse for wear. After gaining all the high
ground I dropped down once more to a small bay at Arish
Mell, which had a nice picnic bench for a well earned lunch
break. I had a good slug of juice to re-hydrate myself and a
pleasant break in peace and quiet, away from the crowds at
Lulworth Cove. I creaked into action once more and
unsurprisingly had another stiff climb up to the top of
Rings Hill – probably named after the earthworks at the top,
where Flowers Barrow is sited.
This is a hillfort with a limited future. The south side is
falling into the sea at
Worbarrow
Bay, with perhaps even
half of it having already disappeared. The pair of parallel
ramparts are clearly visible on the north, east and west
sides. It is possible there never were ramparts on the south
side, with the cliff top acting as defence, not a place to
wander out of your hut drunk on the local brew! There are
wonderful views from here down over
Warbarrow
Bay and further away to
Kimmeridge.
Back
towards
Mupe Bay
On
the top at Flower’s Barrow hill fort
Looking down to
Warbarrow
Bay
..and
looking back across the bay
Once
more the path drops steeply down the side of a hill to
Warbarrow Bay, with the abandoned village of Tyneham
a little way along the valley - The deserted Purbeck village
at the centre of the 7,500 acres used by the Army as a
firing range. The village was evacuated in 1943, and no one
has lived there since. I walked on, a bit tired now,
probably too much ozone, and climbed once more along Gad
Cliff above Brandy
Bay
– make mine a large one please! As I reached Tyneham Cap I
had the choice of staying up high on the ridge or dropping
down to the coast around to Kimmeridge Bay. I chose the easy option as I’d had
enough drops today and didn’t want to go anywhere near an
Oil well! I had good views across to the Kimmeridge Tower
(Clavells Folly) - it was only 4
metres away from the crumbling, unstable cliff edge, and was
also in a very poor state of repair, being a case of whether
it would fall down on its own, or fall over the cliff edge
first. But it was taken apart stone by stone and moved back
by 25m, which should make it last a few more years, there
was a digger standing around so presumably they are still
working on the site. The BP Kimmeridge wellsite with its
slowly ‘nodding donkey’ keeps pumping out the black stuff –
I’m not sure how many barrels of oil a day it produces, but
with the price of oil today it paid for itself a long time
ago.
Still a long way
down to the shore
Kimmeridge Bay
ahead..
The
Kimmeridge
Tower
Along the ridge
above Kimmeridge
The Kimmeridge
ledges produce strange wave patterns
The BP wellsite –
nodding donkey in the middle
Up on the ridge
towards Kimmeridge
I stayed
up on the limestone ridge for a couple of miles before
arriving at the village of Kimmeridge,
and then following a private road down past Smedmore House
and Swalland farm. This route dropped me back down towards
the coastal path, reached by passing through golden fields
of wheat that swayed and swished in the strong winds. I
reached the coast path again just above Rope Lake Head – I
couldn’t see any lake or indeed any rope, although I was
reaching the end of mine. Here the Kimmeridge ledges were
prominent, and they are made up of a hard band of Dolomite
that resists erosion by the sea. The waves form some strange
patterns as the sea flows over the ledges in different
directions. The sea here is also a lot greyer as the shales
wash out from the cliffs. The oil shales here have seen a
few fires over the years, the last one in 2000 I believe –
all naturally occurring phenomena.
Lovely contrasting
colours
Looking down on the
claystone cliffs and the ledges
I was
getting very tired now from all the ups and downs of the day
and worked my way around to Eldon Seat to be met by a rather
large flock of crows. They were waiting on the path for me –
a bit like the crows in Father Ted or Hitchcock’s ‘The
Birds’. But I told them all to fly orf, and they did! It was
slower going here as the path is less well trodden and
overgrown in places, but still a delight to walk along.
There was one last stiff climb of the day up Houns-tout
Cliff – a bit close to the edge at times, before dropping
steeply down to Chapmans Pool a narrow cove of murky looking
water – full of washed out clays.
What would Father
Jack say?.......off crows, drink, a^$e
Alfred…come and look
at this..
Beautiful in the
late afternoon sun
One more climb from
here
The view from the
top of
Houns-tout cliff
A last look back
along the coast path
Over the top and
down to the bay
The muddy waters of
Chapmans Pool
The village pond at
Worth Matravers
I
crossed a narrow valley and walked up the valley side to top
the hill. All that was left to me was a slow easy walk
across the fields and lanes to the pub in the lovely village of Worth Matravers – The Square and Compass
– full of stone tables in the garden. Waiting here were
Olivia and Scott and a fine pint of cider which didn’t touch
the sides as it disappeared. What a wonderful day – calves
like a Tandoori chicken – slowly done to a turn over 8hrs –
but not as tasty. Walking, just brilliant.
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