Jurassic Coast

My brother sent me pictures of his trip to Durdle Door in December 2013 and since I arrived in UK in March 2014, I was eagerly awaiting an opportunity to visit the place myself. Perhaps because it was so close by or because mountains won over beaches in our minds, we overlooked this destination. When a day off in November 2016 transpired, the Jurassic Coast in Dorset was an easy choice. After seeing this picture, can you blame me?!

The drive to Weymouth was short and comfortable. We went straight to the Weymouth B&B before noon on Saturday morning. The location of the B&B which looked promising on booking.com turned out to be bang on the esplanade with nothing outside but beach views and the centre of the town very close by. 

Our check in was pretty amazing because we did not have any idea about what to do on our three day trip except visit Durdledoor. The hostess (Sue) gave us a map of Weymouth and Portland along with various suggestions about what we could do and literally created an itinerary for us and we were very happy to go along.

After resting briefly, we walked to The Swan, a Wetherspoon pub on the high street which was packed with lunch crowd. We enjoyed the reliably delicious burgers and then crossed the beautiful green town bridge to the harbour. Walking along the seashore, we reached Nothe gardens which Sue had informed us was a viewing gallery for the olympic sailing events in 2012. The walks to and within the Nothe gardens gave us rewarding views. It looked sunny but it was quite cold and windy.

The Nothe gardens also held the old Nothe Fort.

As we walked on, a strategically placed bench caught my eye.

There was a brewery tour at the Brewers quay but considering my low tolerance for alchohol smells, it was not an attraction we considered visiting, but the building was beautiful.

As were the lovely typical english pubs we passed by and this one stood out!

This church looked nice but the cheeky message in the yellow board made me laugh.

Though it was not even December, the Christmas decorations were out and the glass painting in Tesco looked lovely.

I had forgotten to pack my phone charger and my phone had reached the charming age where it ran out of juice constantly. On our way back from Nothe gardens, I looked for shops to buy a spare charger from. As this was not the first time I had forgotten a charger on a trip and having bought a rather expensive charger in Gibraltar last year, I was a little hesitant. We decided to look for a charger in a Poundland shop and found one. Just as I fretted about the hefty and probably touristy price, Lakshman reminded me we were in Poundland, the magical land where everything was priced at £1. I was so relieved, I ended up buying two chargers and some other stuff I didn't really need!

We reached the room by 4pm by when it had gotten completely dark outside and the town nearly fell asleep. Considering this was almost November, that was just to be expected. As it was quite cold and windy outside, we decided to stay in the B&B and did not even go out for dinner. We meant to turn in early but I started a new novel about a Russian descendant and somehow got totally engrossed in it that it was nearly 1am when I slept! Despite my sleep deprived state, which was only my own fault, we had an early start the next day. We were at the Portland lighthouse before 6.30am poised to watch the sunrise. And rise it did!

It was such fun to watch this drama unfold.

The colours were so spectacular and the view kept improving every minute. It was totally worth walking around the lighthouse in freezing cold!

After we had milked as much as possible out of that view, we drove back towards Weymouth only to stop again at the West Weares view point that looked out to Chesil beach.

We reached the B&B just in time for breakfast. It was a lovely breakfast and we could actually order food from a selection instead of the usual set menu and the best part was the baked beans was served in a small cup instead of flowing in every direction in the plate. After being well fed and getting some more tips from Sue, we drove towards Durdle Door which was the key attraction for us in this trip. We parked by the Durdle door holiday park and walked down a path to one of the best possible views ever. 

Go both left and right. While the Durdle door is a stunning attraction, the perfect shape of the Man of War beach like the numeric 3 or the Hindu symbol "Om" is pretty impressive too. 

I could try to describe the sounds of the waves, the calm and the natural beauty of the view but aren't pictures worth thousands of words?

Though we took it all in, it was a little surreal that we were actually at this beautiful place. Sue had told us that the Durdle door was one of the most photographed natural places in the world and we were not at all surprised by that little fact after seeing the place ourselves.

  

After walking nearly across the entire stretch of the beach and noticing a few campers sleeping in caves in the limestone cliffs, we walked to the Man of War cove (a.k.a. in my head as UK's Om beach). 

After taking in more ocean views, we walked back up the path and drove on to Lulworth Cove.  A kind lady gave us her parking ticket which still had an hour of validity on it. It was a simple but sweet gesture, she could have simply thrown the ticket out. We accepted it delightedly and walked to Lulworth cove. Though we did not walk down to this beach, we sat on a bench at a lovely vantage point and enjoyed the views.

After buying more parking time, we had lunch at Finley's cafe. To burn off the heavy meal, we decided to hike the hill across the road which led to Durdle door. Once we reached the top and could see the beach, we decided to return to the parking as it was after three and sunset was not far away! Having enjoyed a day filled with lovely ocean views, we settled in for another early night. Since I was physically tired and sleep deprived, I slept during an episode of Planet earth II on BBC without making any plans for the next day except to get up early.

We were back in Portland the next morning before 7am but there was no proper sunrise that day, the sky just generally lit up and the clouds shrouded the sun well. We went to a view point in Cheyne and then to the site of a ruined castle by a beach called the Church Ope Cove. Apart from the lovely views, there were interesting animal carvings on the floor.

We also passed by Portland museum which was housed in a lovely thatched cottage.

On our way back, we stopped at the long stretch of Chesil beach. The primary attraction turned out to be a marsh by the road that played host to wading bird called Red Shank. 

Chesil beach was a pebble beach and it was so incredibly cold that I thought perhaps taking my hand out of my down feather jacket pockets to click a picture may not be necessary and just memories in my head may suffice. But, I persevered, albeit briefly.

Due to our multiple stops that morning, we were nearly late for breakfast but Sue was ever so accommodating and fuelled us with the same amazing breakfast which she was proud to share with us had recently won a best breakfast award. Since this was our first stay in an adults only property, we were very pleased with the quiet ambience. Thanking Sue profusely for the hospitality and especially for her itinerary tips, we left Weymouth B&B.

We made a quick stop at the Roly's fudge factory for their delicious crumbly sweets and after walking briefly on the sandy Weymouth beach, we left the lovely coastal town.

I had found another lovely natural place that morning on the internet and we drove on to Swanage. 

Studland beach

This place had wartime history and there were sheltered barracks ideal to safely shoot at an enemy approaching by sea. The views improved the army's morale I'm sure.

Bunkers from war time

View from inside the bunker

We parked by a coastal town called Studland and walked two miles each way to this amazing place called Old Harry Rocks.

There may not be a twelve apostles here but the few there were certainly stood out!

Amidst wonderful sea views, a raptor called Hobby decided to grant us an unexpected sighting.

On our way back, a fearless little Robin circled our feet and even ate a bite of a Swiss strawberry roll. We also passed by more lovely thatched cottages typical of Dorset and a goat reminiscent of the Ram of Aries sunsign.

After a lovely day, we drove on to a small ferry to Bournemouth and then back towards London. 

After struggling through some peak evening traffic, we were back home for dinner. It was a short and sweet trip that reiterated the bountiful natural beauty of this massive island called the United Kingdom.  It was also a reminder that natural beauty could be around the corner and what matters is to keep travelling and keep looking! :)