JURASSIC COAST
Friday Sept. 20th 2019
When I heard that what I was looking at across the Solvent Bay area from Hurst Castle was the Jurassic Coast, with the white chalk cliffs, I felt I had to try to get there. So I found a bus trip leaving from Bournemouth for the next day. There was an opening. So I got it. Next challenge: drive into Bournemouth the city I got lost a couple of times due to excessive traffic and GPS misguidance. But I got into the city with an hour to spare, so I thought. No parking at the bus station. Indoor parking at the station only allowed for a maximum 3 hr. stay. So I parked the car on the street several blocks away with no signs indicating limited stay. So I took a chance and walked to where I thought I remembered the bus station being. No signs. No buses. But I did jot down that this tour bus was leaving from slot "K" which I noticed with 1/2 hr. to spare. The bus was actually a van holding about 18 passengers. Perfect.
The driver was well versed on all the history and pertinent information of towns along the way to the Jurassic Coast.
We drove through POOLE, a town with the 3rd largest natural harbor in the world. 3rd to Sydney and Tokyo. And POOLE's neighbor town SANDBANKS, has the 4th highest land value in the world. We drove by streets where all the houses sell for an excess of 8M. Quite a posh place.
There is a castle in Poole built by Henry VIII who by the way ended up building over 60 castles and palaces in the U.K. It seems that England, France and Spain have been at war vying for land ownership which explains all the castles built in this area.
Money in the prosperous town of POOLE was had mostly by the import of dried codfish from Newfoundland. Smuggling of rum was also prevalent in many of the towns in this area.
The ride out to the coast took us through some beautiful farmland with cornfields and sheep and cattle. Isle of Purbeck was amazingly beautiful with still existing thatched roofed cottages lining the narrow streets.
We hit the outgoing part of the trip at Durdle Door on the coast. We could not drive to the rugged coast. We had to walk. This is a busy tourist area with people walking on pathways, many with their dogs, to the edge to see the picturesque Durdle Door, a natural arch cut out by the sea with a sandy beach accessible by a steep stairway. Some people were lounging down at the beach but not too many in the water. It was most likely too chilly. I would have wanted to do the stairway down to the beach but I had to give myself time to do the steep uphill hike to the top and along a field and down to LULWORTH COVE where we were all to meet the van for our return trip later. I took an excessive amount of pictures. Being on the top at this area reminded me of an island in Greece with the views from atop the rugged, rocky coast looking out over the blue ocean at rocks jutting out of the sea. This area is called the Jurassic Coast because of the thousands of dinosaur remains found and still being found from 130 million years ago when the English Channel was a mere swamp with rich vegetation connecting to present day France.
There was a lot of hiking up and down today but well worth visiting. I would love to return to LULWORTH COVE for a few day stay. A few small hotels and restaurants makes this little valley in a mountainous area a peaceful, perfect yet not crowded place affording many hiking trails to enjoy this out-of-the-way spot.
Tomorrow on to Hastings to stay with Susie Casson
When I heard that what I was looking at across the Solvent Bay area from Hurst Castle was the Jurassic Coast, with the white chalk cliffs, I felt I had to try to get there. So I found a bus trip leaving from Bournemouth for the next day. There was an opening. So I got it. Next challenge: drive into Bournemouth the city I got lost a couple of times due to excessive traffic and GPS misguidance. But I got into the city with an hour to spare, so I thought. No parking at the bus station. Indoor parking at the station only allowed for a maximum 3 hr. stay. So I parked the car on the street several blocks away with no signs indicating limited stay. So I took a chance and walked to where I thought I remembered the bus station being. No signs. No buses. But I did jot down that this tour bus was leaving from slot "K" which I noticed with 1/2 hr. to spare. The bus was actually a van holding about 18 passengers. Perfect.
The driver was well versed on all the history and pertinent information of towns along the way to the Jurassic Coast.
We drove through POOLE, a town with the 3rd largest natural harbor in the world. 3rd to Sydney and Tokyo. And POOLE's neighbor town SANDBANKS, has the 4th highest land value in the world. We drove by streets where all the houses sell for an excess of 8M. Quite a posh place.
There is a castle in Poole built by Henry VIII who by the way ended up building over 60 castles and palaces in the U.K. It seems that England, France and Spain have been at war vying for land ownership which explains all the castles built in this area.
Money in the prosperous town of POOLE was had mostly by the import of dried codfish from Newfoundland. Smuggling of rum was also prevalent in many of the towns in this area.
The ride out to the coast took us through some beautiful farmland with cornfields and sheep and cattle. Isle of Purbeck was amazingly beautiful with still existing thatched roofed cottages lining the narrow streets.
We hit the outgoing part of the trip at Durdle Door on the coast. We could not drive to the rugged coast. We had to walk. This is a busy tourist area with people walking on pathways, many with their dogs, to the edge to see the picturesque Durdle Door, a natural arch cut out by the sea with a sandy beach accessible by a steep stairway. Some people were lounging down at the beach but not too many in the water. It was most likely too chilly. I would have wanted to do the stairway down to the beach but I had to give myself time to do the steep uphill hike to the top and along a field and down to LULWORTH COVE where we were all to meet the van for our return trip later. I took an excessive amount of pictures. Being on the top at this area reminded me of an island in Greece with the views from atop the rugged, rocky coast looking out over the blue ocean at rocks jutting out of the sea. This area is called the Jurassic Coast because of the thousands of dinosaur remains found and still being found from 130 million years ago when the English Channel was a mere swamp with rich vegetation connecting to present day France.
There was a lot of hiking up and down today but well worth visiting. I would love to return to LULWORTH COVE for a few day stay. A few small hotels and restaurants makes this little valley in a mountainous area a peaceful, perfect yet not crowded place affording many hiking trails to enjoy this out-of-the-way spot.
Tomorrow on to Hastings to stay with Susie Casson
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