A Day on the Jurassic Coast

 We started our bus tour with our guide Paul in Bournemouth. He drove us through the town and then along the coast, sharing information about the towns and region.  Bournemouth was founded in the early 1800s as a health spa because of its fresh air.  In the center of town there are very tall old pine trees that were planted over 100 years ago to promote the healthy air.  Bournemouth is officially a town not a city because it has a university but not a cathedral. 

As we drove the winding, hilly roads, our guide Paul said there were five "chines" valleys between the beach cliffs between Bournemouth and Poole.  The central gardens that we walked the other day were one of these, with the river Bourne flowing down that valley.  We crossed the others on our way West along the coast.  One is below.  

We approached Poole Harbor, the 2nd largest natural harbor next to Sydney harbor in the world.  It is only 3 feet deep across most of it, with a 27 ft deep channel for larger ships that was dredged back during Queen Victoria's era (1850s).  The tide was out when we came by.

Many of the small boats just beached on the sandy bottom during low tide.

Our driver told us that the residential area here in Poole called Sandbanks is some of the most expensive real estate in the world.  The large houses that we could see behind the hedges would certainly support that claim. 

It was a very short ferry ride across from one side to the other.  

The water was very calm and there were a few sailboats headed toward the Channel.

This was our first stop: Middle Beach.  It apparently is very much like the Normandy beach and was used for D-day training in WWII.  It was certainly peaceful here this morning. 

On the right side of the photo above, in the distance, you can see Old Harry rocks - these are limestone pillars that rise out of the water and are chalky white.  One has collapsed due to erosion.

We passed through several villages with thatched roofs.  They use river reeds that are bundled at least 12" thick.  They place wire mesh on top to keep the birds from pillaging the roof for their own nests. 

A view of Old Harry rocks from the other side of the point.  Rocks are on the right of the photo.  

This is Swanage harbor. 

View from Durlston Castle and nature reserve (next inlet over from Swanage).

Durlston Castle and stone globe dating to Victorian era.  Much of the stone construction in the area is made from Purbeck quarried limestone.

These cliffs and inlets were a prime place for smugglers to land and stash their stores to escape paying government tariffs.  This hillside was riddled with caves.  The smugglers were quarry men by day - using explosives to remove stone - and smugglers by night, bringing in goods to store in the newly blasted caves. 

Lighthouse and South coast trail.  The trail runs for 93 miles along the southern shore of the UK.  Our guide said they are in the process of building a trail that runs the full perimeter around the whole country.

Our next stop was in the lovely little village of Corfe to see Corfe castle and get some lunch. 

We stopped at a bakery that our guide recommended and got some yummy stuffed rolls and pastries.  

We ate in the park with a few of the castle in the distance.

Unfortunately, our tour did not include entering the castle gates and we didn't have time to explore further on our own.

I did have time to walk around the base of the hill of the castle.  The castle withstood two years of siege in the 1600s and was eventually sacked when it was betrayed from the inside.  The picture below gives a great view of how steep the sides of the hill were.  I can't imagine trying to storm the castle up this hill! 

Our last stop was at Lulworth Cove and Durdle's Door stone formation.  Our guide said we were lucky that the traffic was so light today.  We could see what he meant, the parking areas were huge, but far from full.  There were still a ton of people hiking and sunbathing.

The waters and sky were spectacular! We could not have asked for nicer weather.  Sun with some light clouds and a strong coastal breeze to keep us cool.  

The rock formation was very cool.  There were people swimming through the middle of it.  The water was a lot too chilly for us (and we didn't bring suits).

The guide mentioned that there was one cruise liner parked outside Weymouth harbor.  The cost was much less than at the busy port of Southhampton.  He said at one point during the pandemic he counted 14 cruise ships just sitting out here, out of service.

This shot gives you an idea of the hiking we did today.  7 miles total up and down the coastal cliffs.  We were totally beat at the end of the day.