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Stair Hole and The Crumple, just
next to Lulworth Cove. |
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Stair Hole and The Crumple. |
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Despite taking
leave for Friday, 16th November, I got away only around 13h30 from Royston. Via
the M25, I eventually picked up the M3 down towards Southampton and
Bournemouth but arrived in Lulworth after dark. I popped down to the
Castle Inn, for a meal. This being the last weekend outing of the year, interest was
at a premium and the weekend was heavily booked. The
YHA accommodation at Lulworth Cove is a
single storey purpose-built timber building on the edge of the tranquil
fishing village of West Lulworth. Surrounded by fields and wonderful views
of the Dorset hills, it’s a mile’s walk to the oyster-shaped Lulworth Cove
and dramatic coastline.The
official address of the venue, which we had visited some years before, was
as follows:
School Lane, West Lulworth, Wareham, Dorset BH20 5SA.
Yes, numbers were up compared to dismal turn-outs in recent months. Martin's
final details read as follows:
"Suggested Room Allocation
– (good earplugs
are recommended)
The hostel is
currently full, but there may be some late changes if we get any last
minute changes, but this is the best layout I can come up with. "
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Name |
Sleeping arrangements |
Name |
Sleeping arrangements |
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Tim Porter |
Room 1 x 6 |
Bonnie Parker |
Room 4 x 5 |
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Gordon Farquhar |
Room 1 x 6 |
Jill Paul
|
Room 4 x 5 |
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Peter Hartman |
Room 1 x 6 |
Ruth West |
Room 4 x 5 |
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Peter Groves |
Room 1 x 6 |
Nadine Matthias |
Room 4 x 5 |
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John Robertson |
Room 1 x 6 |
Jaqui Rumble |
Room 4 x 5 |
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Conaugh Parker |
Room 1 x 6 |
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Phil Newton |
Room 5 x 4 |
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Andy Perkins |
Room 2 x 6 |
Anne Young |
Room 5 x 4 |
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Susanne Mitchell |
Room 2 x 6 |
Anna Askels |
Room 5 x 4 |
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Danny |
Room 2 x 6 |
Bernie |
Room 5 x 4 |
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Nadine |
Room 2 x 6 |
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Gillie & Scott |
Room 2 x 6 |
Rob Irving |
Room 6 x 4 |
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James |
Room 2 x 6 |
Julie Hastings |
Room 6 x 4 |
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Dave Colli |
Room 6 x 4 |
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Judy |
Room 6 x 4 |
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Tony Regent |
Room 3 x 5 |
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Peter Wise |
Room 3 x 5 |
Chris Platten & baby Matthew |
Room 7 x 4 |
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Joyce Wise |
Room 3 x 5 |
Angelica Platten |
Room 7 x 4 |
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Bob Gaskell |
Room 3 x 5 |
Vanda Ralevska |
Room 7 x 4 |
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Lynn Wallace |
Room 3 x 5 |
Martin Lighten |
Room 7 x 4 |
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B&B |
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Peter Matthews |
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Kathy |
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Julie’s friend |
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Julie’s friend |
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Walking west from Lulworth Cove
towards Durdle Door, as Man O' War Cove appears on the left. |
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Tanya and Tammy above Durdle Door. |
Julie's
"mysterious" two friends were due to arrive early the next
morning, as they had a prior engagement the Friday evening.
It turns out that they got up at crack of dawn and arrived
promptly at around 08h00, only to find us chomping away at
our English breakfasts. Clearly, they had been misinformed
and had to sit around waiting for us.
We were split up
into several groups, considering the unusually large
contingent, which probably accounted for the slow start,
which invariably is at 9 o'clock.
Tanya and
Tammy were a breath of fresh air, though, and really
pleasant.
From School Lane,
a path led up Bindon Hill away from the hostel towards the
coast.
This hill is the site of tumuli.
A tumulus
(plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised
over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows,
burial mounds, or kurgans, and can be found throughout much
of the world.
Once at the top, we gained a view of
Lulworth Cove and descended down to a
small harbour at the cove itself. Lulworth Cove is at the
very end of
Main Road. Not far from here is
Stair Hole and The Crumple, located
just next to the cove.
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Durdle Beach, the upper section of
the steep path up Swyre's Head and Bat's Head to the rear. |
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Durdle Door and the beach. |
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The path rises steeply up Swyre's
Head, just above Durdle Beach. |
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Ascending Swyre's head, looking back
towards Durdle Door. |
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The Jurassic Coast is a
World Heritage Site on the
English Channel.
The site stretches from
Orcombe Bay near
Exmouth in East Devon to
Old Harry Rocks near
Swanage
in East Dorset, a distance of 153 kilometres (95 mi). Chartered in 2001, the Jurassic coast was the second wholly-natural World
Heritage Site to be designated in the United kingdom. Its entire length can be walked on the
South West Coast Path - this was the path we were on.
Passing the
Heritage Centre,
from the West Lulworth car park, on a path, the walk then took us over the
rise to the west of Lulworth Cove, down towards Durdle Door and Durdle
Beach. En route,
Durdle Door
Holiday park (campsite)
appears on the right hand side. The next ascent is up Swyre's Head and
down to Bat's Hole, followed by yet another climb up to Bat's Head. Though
the distance is not that great, the steep inclines provide a challenge
nonetheless. Beyond Bat's Head, The
Warren is the remains of an old Celtic field system. Here the turf is
springy underfoot, not as steep, so we made good progress, until we reached
the obelisk-shaped beacon, where we stopped for lunch. |
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Further up Swyre's Head, Durdle
Beach and behind it, Man O' War Cove, appear. |
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Descending Swyre's Head towards
Bat's Hole. |
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View from Bat's Head, looking
westwards. |
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Swyre's Head, Durdle Door and the
beach at Bat's Hole, as viewed from Bat's Head, looking east. |
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Another view of the coastline from
Bat's Head. |
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View of Bat's Head on the ascent up
to The Warren. |
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It was at the beacon that we met
English actor Alun Armstrong en route, resulting in a photo-shoot and a bit
of chit-chat from our group, notably Julie Hastings. After being asked:
"What are you doing here?" he responded: "Walking the dog". Well, he
was indeed. Alun, probably accustomed to the attention, took it all in his
stride. Alun Armstrong made his debut in the 1971 movie Get Carter
and has since worked regularly in British stage and television productions.
On television, Armstrong has
played the character Brian Lane in the highly popular BBC drama New Tricks.
Armstrong spent nine years with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Startford
upon Avon and London He has been nominated for the Laurence Olivier
Award six times and won in 1994, for Best Actor in a Musical for his
performance of Sweeney Todd in the musical of the same name. Armstrong
is perhaps best known for his ingenious performance as Thénardier in the
original London production of Les Misérables in October 1985 with Sue Jane
Tanner alongside him as Mme. Thénardier, for which he was also nominated for
a Laurence Oliver Award for Best Actor in a Musical. |
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Julie Hastings posing with English
actor Alun Armstrong, during a chance meeting at the navigational beacon
- Photo taken by Vanda Ralevska |
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Though some of
the group turned back at this point, we pressed on a bit, as far as the old
coastguard cottages at White Nothe. Here you can turn left to go out onto
the headland with views to Weymouth, Portland Harbour and the Isle of
Portland. White Nothe (the name comes from ‘White Nose’) is the most
westerly of the steep limestone hills on this section of coast. |
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The obelisk-shaped navigation beacon
along The Warren. |
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On the way back, view eastwards
towards Bat's Head, with Bat's Hole below. |
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The beach at Bat's Hole, with the
ascent up Swyre's Head up ahead. |
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The eroded path, whilst descending
Bat's Head towards Swyre's Head. |
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Another view of Durdle Door and
Durdle Beach. |
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In the evening, after a meal at the up-market
Castle Inn,
where School Lane joins Main Road, near the youth hostel, John Robertson and
I walked down to the harbour and watched the Scotland World Cup qualifying
game against Italy on TV in a local pub. The only other real interest
stemmed from two Scottish fellas in kilts, whose initial enthusiasm
waned as soon as it became obvious that the Scots weren't going to make it.
Returning later to the YHA, Dave & Rob were in the process of delivering
their usual brand of music we all love best. |
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