Lulworth to Swanage
Today started with a taxi ride around the Lulworth firing range. Luckily although the range is closed to walkers for 24hours a day the road running through the range is open for cars until 9am.
Our driver sped through the country lanes and we were at Kimmeridge Bay in 20 minutes with only one minor altercation with the mobility bus (someone really should have reversed instead on driving up the banks to squeeze past with 2cm to spare).
The weather was much improved from yesterday’s rain and we enjoyed the new scenery. There are oil rich clay beds at Kimmeridge Bay intersected by layers of hard limestone.
The limestone has been left as prominent wave cut platforms and the gently dipping beds mean the waves are very regular and form at 90° in some places.
We continued to Chapman's Pool which is similar to Lulworth Cove in shape / origin but a little less pretty and a lot less touristy.
There were a few steep ascents and descents but I was kept entertained by "history lessons with Olly" where I quiz Olly about the last 500 years of world history in an attempt to improve my limited knowledge.
We stopped to eat our packed lunch in some sunny fields before continuing past Dancing Ledge where we saw quite a few coasteerers and some climbers. Olly had a sudden recollection he had been to Swanage before and had climbed on those cliffs.
We next passed into the Durlston Country Park where we saw the Anvil Point lighthouse and the Tilly Whim Caves (which are actually old Portland stone mines). Apparently this spot is good for spotting dolphins, but alas not today. There are was also a giant globe.
Quite often during walking I just go from one random thought to another and today I suddenly wondered "do dolphins ever stay still, how to they sleep?" After some discussion Olly googled the answer. They sleep one half of their brain at a time as they don't loose consciousness as they have to actively breathe.
We arrived in Swanage just after check in time for our hotel. Booking.com said there was a hot tub, we wondered if it was this (see view from our window below). Unlikely though as there are pond plants and fish.
Reading the small print the hot tub and bar are closed for winter. Instead we had a nice Italian dinner in town and an early night.
Nature fact: Below is a picture of the cocoon of some brown tailed moth caterpillars. We saw a lot of these today and some warning signs about the irritating hairs (see Porthallow day blog post).
