Lulworth Cove & Durdle Door

Lulworth Cove
see all photos »

We drove from Bashley down to Sandbanks, near Bournemouth, and caught the chain drawn ferry across the entrance to Poole harbour. We landed on the Isle of Purbeck, although as near as I could tell it wasn’t an island…

There are lots of nice beaches here with National Trust carparks. Unfortunately they wanted £8 to park the big truck – welcome to England and paying for parking everywhere…

The beach here was quite amazing with small pebbles that had been so polished by the sea that they shone like gemstones.

Durdle Door
see all photos »

We parked at the side of the road instead – but didn’t realise it was a half hour walk to the beach :-( or it was a nudist beach full of dodgy old blokes :-( or it was cold and windy :-(( We did however have a nice view of Old Harry rocks, spires of chalk that have broken away from the main cliff and now stand alone.

We then drove to Lulworth cove, which is a nearly circular bay hollowed out by the sea, with only a small entry. It is surrounded by chalk cliffs topped with green fields and really is very nice. The sun was shining so it was very pleasant to wander around.

Cliffs near Durdle Door
see all photos »

Jay added to his rock collection at the heritage centre shop, which is full of semi precious stones, and interestingly a lot of the same fossils we had seen in Morocco.

We stayed the night in the nearby Durdle Door campsite, which was pretty average and very overpriced. Before we left the campsite we took a walk down to see the ‘door’. It is in fact a large arch cut into a protruding spit of rock by the sea eroding softer rocks.

There is a steep walk down from the campsite or it can be walked from Lulworth Cove. Again the area is surrounded by towering chalk cliffs, capped with green fields and with pebble beaches at the bottom.

The beach here was quite amazing with small pebbles that had been so polished by the sea that they shone like gemstones. The beach actually looked wet the pebbles were so shiny! Jay of course loved this and collected lots of samples ;-)

I have become quite fond of the pebble beach and can now see the appeal (bear in mind I am Australian…). When you are going to the beach just to sit and look, or if the weather is a little cold then pebbles are great. The sun keeps them nice and warm, and when you leave you are not covered in sand. They are rubbish in the summer if you want to swim though.

Dave.