St Aldhelm's Head

The under cliff at St Aldhelm's Head is a strange and unique landscape of boulders and blocks, scree slopes and gnarly  windswept shrubs (many of which have razor sharp thorns) brambles and grasses. A mixture of natural processes and quarry workings, now long deserted and being retaken slowly by nature. It's a rugged and unforgiving piece of land, exposed to all that the elements can through at it and the sea off it the scene of many a shipwreck, although on a sunny day, even a cold one as today, it can appear mysterious and exotic, and quite captivating. Amongst the jumble the works of man can be found; a carved Purbeck stone ball, thick rusting cables trail from the workings down towards the shore like the remains of a giant spiders web, old water tanks, fragments of brickwork and concrete, all manner of human detritus is scattered about. Over the years I've seen these pieces of human pasts decay, disappear or be consumed by the undergrowth. It makes for an arduous walk, with plenty of scrambling about and a sketchy decent/ascent, but one which is well worth the effort. You'll often see deer wending one of the numerous animal tracks, but I don't remember ever seeing any other people there (although there's some evidence of other adventurous walkers) and you'd usually have the place to yourself. St Aldhelm's Head is a special place, for sure.