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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3072 |
10th May 2018 Hiking - Walking: Kimmeridge Quarry to Chapmans Pool Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods but breezy. Max Speed: Distance Covered: 11.5 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Thursday 10th May – walk ***** Kimmeridge Quarry to Chapmans Pool – sunny periods but breezy. Quieter parked at the back of the Quarry above Kimmeridge even if the view is not so good and it seemed to rain a lot during the night. Supposed to be wall to wall sunshine with the wind WNW but it was cloudy especially inland and the wind was SW I think, breezy too! Still I was not going to drive to Portland again especially if the wind went north so the walk was on:) After porridge breakfast as it was a bit nippy, Mag packed great mixed turkey salad and we set off just before eleven. Our plan was to head down to Kimmeridge Bay turn left to Chapmans Pool and return inland along the ridge. Mag found this walk on her phone and it said it was nine miles. We were going to see how we got on as to how far we went? The footpath begins with a stile just up from the Quarry leading steeply down to the very picturesque Kimmeridge village full of lovely thatched cottage and an old chapel:) We passed a brand-new fossil museum and Mag made friends with a young cat playing about in the road! We continued along the toll road, no charge for walkers, following the sign to the boat sheds where the surfers and windsurfers park. There was a couple of surfers returning to their cars while two wave sailors were rigging up. There is a nice information centre where you ask the Range Warden where it is safe to walk and sail due to the firing ranges! The Lulworth section is still closed due to live arms shooting and you can hear it from miles around. The coast just of Kimmeridge forms the Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve set up to preserve unique flora and fauna. There was a very friendly man in the small free marine centre who we chatted too and looked into some aquariums and saw a pipe fish. There were some quirky things to buy and soon spent the only money we had getting 15p change from our tenner! We then headed up the very steep steps that herald the start of the coast path leading to Clavel lTower built in 1820 as an observation Tower/Folly and we were amazed by the stunning views of Kimmeridge bay and the absolutely stunning Jurassic cliffs:) There is rolling surf every where but only one surfer, the two windsurfers had wobbled out underpowered then rode a wave in, it looked great fun much better than Felixstowe as the water is flat between the waves and you can pick a wave to ride in, only trouble is if something goes wrong you are washed up on a rocky shore! With a good tail wind, it was a bit chilly when the sun disappeared behind a cloud but lovely and warm in the sun! We quickly saw why cycling is not allowed on this narrow, bumpy, eroded in places path which rises up and down all the time but is just brilliant to walk! You had rolling hills to the left covered in cows and sheep and tall oil rich cliffs (apparently they caught fire in the 70’s and burnt for several months!) to the right full of fossils apparently but with absolutely no access to the foreshore. Approaching the hardest climb on the walk just before Chapmans Pool I managed to spot a waterfall down the cliff and onto the foreshore :). We sat on a flat grassy place and just took in the scenery and couldn’t believe how lucky we are to be here and it is so quiet too, we have only seen a handful of walkers, we can’t believe how remote this part of the UK is! We then pass through a tree filled gorge past a herd of cows that ran down the hill to greet us and then it was straight up the very steep Houns Tout Cliff - much harder than anything with have down – even in the mountains! At the top we spot our return footpath but continue just around the corner and have our delicious picnic looking down onto Chapmans Pool, an enclosed bay with a few fishing huts and a small beach which you can actually access :) Refreshed after lunch we returned to the ridge footpath taking us inland along miles of stone wall and a beautiful valley with a nice farm and the Smedmore (?) estate featuring the grand Smedmore house with its lovely walled gardens. There is a road to access the estate but walkers have to stick to the marked footpaths and we had to walk at least a mile out of our way to get around but it was worth it as the woods were full of wild garlic and bluebells. We had spoken to a nice couple on a walking holiday doing lots of the coastal path and I took a picture of their OS map which then showed us the way to go! On coming to the road with Kingston just to the right we turned left to Sheep Pen carpark which leads up to Swyre Head where the scenery is just out of this world:) All we had to do was walk a mile along a ridge high above Kimmeridge and above the Quarry where the van is parked. We had been out 6 hours 20 minutes covering 11.5 miles and this has to be one of our best walks ever. We will definitely do more as there is so much to explore. Never was a sit down and cuppa more welcome. We are surrounded by a few VW vans in the Quarry, popular spot this - and we think the army is at it again! Fingers crossed for a sail at Hamworthy tomorrow, return the board, perhaps check out Swanage, the world is our lobster as we don’t have to be home until next Thursday when we have a much-needed haircut booked! Photo Gallery Here |
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