Swanage, Dorset

August 31st to September 8th 2007

Off on holiday again. This time we stayed at Sunny Glade, a Caravan Club certified location in Harmans Cross, Dorset. This was a small sloping field, about 100m from the station on the Swanage steam train line. We couldn't see the trains going past but could hear them and see puffs of steam. It was fairly quiet for most of the week as we had the field to ourselves (apart from the flock of geese and chickens-very nice free range eggs). At the end of the week the Swanage steam rally saw an influx of caravanners. We met up with Dad, Wyn and Len to do some of the walks this week.

After setting up we drove to Studland (along a single track road) and parked in the NT carpark. We then did a 3.5 km walk along the dunes and heather trail to the point where the South West Coast Path begins. There may be a pattern developing here! We then followed the coast path back . A total of 7.8km. The beach was lovely and sandy and the sun was going down by the time we got back to Studland.

Saturday 1st September

We decided to walk some more South West Coast path. We drove to Studland and parked in the NT car park again. We then walked south along the beach for a km and then left it to follow the path to Fort Henry, remnants of a WWII observation post. We walked along the cliff top to Old Harry rocks and then the Pinnacles where we had a good view of the Isle of Wight and the Needles. We followed the cliff path up and down some steep sections until we came to the beach at Swanage where we had an ice-cream (very nice) and left the SWCP. We then walked through Swanage and up on to Ballard Down. It was a very steep climb up chalk steps to a obelisk which was dismantled during the war to stop it being a landmark for bombers, it was then reconstructed after the war. We walked across the Down with great views across Poole Harbour. We were followed by several cows who were moving downhill away from the impending cloud burst. We walked downhill towards Studland with a few spits of rain where we stopped at the Bankes Arms for a pint of Ocelot (J) and half of Solar Power (K). We retraced our steps to Fort Henry and back to the car. 17.1 km.

Monday 3rd September 2007

We walked to the station at Harmans Cross to catch the train that Dad, Wyn and Len had caught at Swanage. Our train was a diesel and Len was waving out the window. We started walking from Corfe and went up 311? Steps onto Rollington hill. Wyn and Len made it quite well with a few stops. They were pleased we were there as they might not have had the confidence to do the climb on their own. We then had a nice walk along the ridge to Nine Barrow Down and then down to Ulwell. We noticed the soles were coming off Wyns shoes so we didn't walk the footpath to Swanage but stayed on the road (10 km). We had a nice cup of tea in Swanage and then they returned to their hotel and we caught the train from Swanage to Harmans Cross (£3.50) each.

Tuesday 4th September 2007
Another section of the SWCP today. We caught the train into Swanage and then walked the coast path to Peveril Point, Durlston Park and the Globe.
Then round Durlston head and past Tilly Whin caves and on to Anvil Point and Dancing Ledge where we climbed down to the quarry and sat in the sun for a while. Puffins are supposed to nest here but we didn't see any seabirds at all. We then carried on along the coast path to Whin Spit where we left the Coast Path and headed inland to Worth Matravers. We stopped at the Square and Compass and had some cider and a pasty (17km)

There were some interesting people telling jokes which kept us amused for a while. We continued along the road and back to the caravan.

Wednesday 5th September 2007
We drove to Kingston today. Wyn and Len had walked too much yesterday and so just Dad met us. We parked the car and walked across a field and lanes to the coast path. We had very good clear views of the Isle of Portland as we went. We walked along to Kimmerage bay where we sat and had a bit of lunch and watched the military guard keeping a lookout for walkers and surfers that might trespass into the firing range! We then looked round the marine centre and walked to Kimmerage which had lots of thatched cottages. We lost the path for a bit and ended up climbing a very steep and brambly hill only to find that the path was up the road a bit further. We walked across farm tracks back to the car (13 km). Dad called in for a cup of tea. We were going to go out for dinner but it was too nice sitting near the caravan.

Thursday 6th September 2007
We met Dad, Wyn and Len at the carpark at Worth Matravers and walked towards St Andhelm's head. We had a rest at the monument to Telecommunications. It was quite nice and very sunny. We looked round the chapel and were then told that a dolphin was following a boat. We watched for a while and saw it leap out of the water. We continued along the coast path but then discovered that the path went steeply downhill and then just as steeply uphill. We thought that tnis might be too much for Wyn and Len and so took a straight road back to Worth (8km). We all stopped and had a glass of cider and then they came back to the caravan for a cup of tea. Friday 7th September 2007
We wanted to join up our sections of the SWCP today and so we drove to the lower carpark in Worth and walked back to St Aldhelms head. We set off down the hill that we hadn't attempted yesterday (204 steps) and then 149 steps up the other side. We continued along the coast path which was very up and down to Chapmans pool where we had another 166 steps to climb. We continued on to the spot where we joined the coast path on Wednesday, so we have now done all the path from Haven point to Kimmerage bay (about 21.5 miles). At this rate it will take us about 30 weeks of holidays to complete the SWCP -we might have tohave a few more holidays down here. We then retraced our steps to Chapmans pool and then cut off towards the car park (14km). We were exhausted as it had been so hot. We then drove up to the Square and Compass and had a very welcome cider and pasty.