Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Dorset, UK: All Other Destinations

Our last day in Dorset we really boot it around the place! We stop in the small town of Wareham and wander the one main street. We find a "farmer's market" and feel very awkward being the only people in there. We are watched by all 10 vendors and feel like everyone is hoping and expecting us to buy their homemade jams and baking. I can't even bring myself to sample the brownie bits put out because I feel so self conscious! A quick stroll to the local river and back stretches our legs. We head towards the coast again and pass huge tracts of farm and grazing land. We again reach the coast where we find much more rustic beach houses than in Bournemouth. The beach is pretty secluded and we try to figure out how to get up on the cliffs. Ah ha...we find the path! We can now see the point we are trying to reach. There are precipice that we can balance out onto to get a view. I grow extremely nervous and suddenly remember one of my recurring dreams in which I am on the edge of a cliff, just trying to walk by, and there is a strong gravitational force sucking me over the edge. I have had this dream ever since I was a kid and now can't get it out of my mind as I balance over a small bridge of grass linking a chunk of cliff that sticks out just a bit further from the edge. I sit my bum down on the grass to calm down and Nigel gets a picture. Refusing to move closer to the edge I take a picture from where I am sitting of Nigel. The point is famously called "Old Harry Rocks". It is stunning. We can look across the inlet and see the white cliffs of Dover mimicking the white chalk cliffs we are standing on. On the way out we pass a great looking pub. Next we drive to Swanage and wander around the quaint village. Nigel's best friend's father used to be the minister at this Methodist Church in Swanage. Back on the road we pass through a military zone. Strangely, it shows the road on our road map but our Sat Nav (GPS) shows no indication of a road until we are actually on it and then it a dotted line appears on which we are driving. I am assuming Sat Nav does not display military zones. Our final destination is Lulworth Cove. It is literally a small collections of houses in a valley with a beautiful cove on the ocean. The cove. The rock formations are brilliant. You can see a group of high school students out on a field trip having a geology lesson at the top of this hill. There is a very long hike up a mountain and the view looking back at the cove and village is magnificent! The top is pretty nice too, but we head back down again. Some of the thatched roof stone houses in the village of Lulworth.

1 comment:

Mama Bear said...

beautiful photos! now i wanna go here.