Day Two (Friday)
Wasn’t the best night of sleep, but we were up and the sun shining. Since we only have a big picture of what we want to do we took our travel book to breakfast with us. We were in search of coffee, but found this fun little breakfast place and got traditional English breakfast – eggs, toast, beans, sausage, hash browns, and Americano black. It was great and not that expensive. Anyways we went through our options and decided that we were going to see the Durdle Door. By car it’s only a 15-mile drive, to walk it would have been about 8 miles. So we drove knowing that we would be hiking about 6 miles anyways. So we drove to Lulworth Heritage Center and parked there. Plenty of parking. We weren’t rushing the day, just letting it come to us. It was 11 am by the time we parked and paid for the day.
The first thing that this walk greets you with is a little 400 feet elevation hill that wakes you up. Well maintained and very wide for it is very popular. Take your time and enjoy the view as you head up. From there the day has started. Again, take your time and enjoy the views. The Durdle Door is special because of the views. You are on the Jurassic Coast and a “dragon” is coming out of the sea. It takes you back to another time. Though the time said an hour and 32-minutes, it was just over 2 hours because of the stops that we took to enjoy God’s great creation.
We had plenty of daylight left so we decided to take another hike. This time to right and see the fossil forest. Once again take your time and enjoy the views. Two servicemen opening the military range greeted us when we got to the top of the hill. The path goes two ways, the first goes along the military range (for when the range is close), and the other goes through the range. Going through the range is a more leisurely hike, so we were happy to see the servicemen opening it up.
The one thing that we talked about is how this area reminded us of so many other places. Not like in general, but different sections. Though this is not the Grand Canyon, the elevation change makes it comparable. You have beautiful cliffs that you can see for miles that are similar to the Cliffs of Mohr. You have giant boulders on the beach like Diamond beach in Iceland – Boulders vs. Ice, but they stand out the same. Tree-covered hiking path like you would find in Indiana. Beach activity like you would find at any small beach community.
So after arriving around, 11 am we were heading back around 4:30 pm. A nice shower and ditching the hiking shoes for lightweight tennis shoes was a welcome change. Even though it was Friday night, after doing over 20,000 steps and climbing 90+ flights of stairs, we were ready for dinner at the Ship Inn and calling it an early night.
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