Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle is currently in the middle of a 3 year site clearance, restoration and stabilization program, the aim, to ensure this important site is protected and preserved for future generations. It's impressive passing below its ruinous form today, you can only imagine its impact when at the height of its glory, the keep tower painted white on the order of Henry III it stood high above its' surroundings. 

Approaching Corfe

Following the chalk track down the side of Challow Hill you approach the village of Corfe and the ruins of it's magnificent 11th century Norman castle;  once one of the countrys' strongest, and definitely most picturesque castles, now it's the most picturesque ruins.  Surviving sieges through the ages Corfe wasn't brought low by battle, but rather through betrayal, and was subsequently demolished so it could never stand again. Hell of a castle, with a rich history.

The Pinnicale

 

The Pinnicale

Swanage line

A steam train hurtles through a chilly January morning towards Corfe along the Swanage Line.

Field of flowers

 

Our route by way of the Corfe Valley had us encounter a huge field of wild flowers, through which our footpath fortuitously passed. Approaching the final hill of what was an arduous Purbeck walk, the wonder and colour of the field was a welcome distraction.

Broad Bench pebble art

 

Covering a fair portion of Broad Bench someone has put a lot of time and effort in to this work, the piece extends way beyond my framing. Just collecting the appropriate shale pebbles must have taken an age. Nice result though. I doff my cap.

Lulworth Ranges Chieftain bridgelayer

 

The Armoured Fighting Vehicles Gunnery School was established towards the end of the First World War in 1918, it's ranges are utilized by all three branches of our armed services. Used as targets you'll spot old battered tanks scattered about the landscape, look carefully and spot mechanisms for moving targets. Most of the tanks are way off the marked safe routes, well within the range, though this Chieftain AVLB Bridgelayer was close enough to the path to take a look. 

Range walk

 

Today's walk was not a long one, though a challenging one. A particularly hilly route through Lulworths' military range; Whiteways car park to Flowers Barrow to Arish Mell to Bindon Hill to Mupe Bay. We paused at Mupe for a welcome rest, some refreshments and a chilly dip in the crystal clear sea. Noice. Then; Mupe Bay to Bindon to Arish Mell to Flowers Barrow to Worbarrow Bay to Tyneham to Whiteways car park. That's only 8.7 miles but with a 2,256 ft elevation gain. Bloody lovely though, top of the leader board of this years walks.

Summer Solstice

It’s 0430 in the morning. Geoff and I make our way up around the Encombe Bowl to Swyre Head in order to see in the sunrise. There's a cool breeze, though it's warm enough for me to be wearing a T-shirt. The air reverberates to the sound of the dawn chorus, heard though unseen residents move amongst the undergrowth. Above us a bird of prey glides silently careful searching for breakfast. It's beautiful out. Dawns don’t get better than this. The horizon to the east is slowly turning orange red, we've reached the head just in time as a few minutes later dawn breaks. Crowned by the Goddess, today the Sun is at his zenith, King of summer. Tomorrow though the Holly Kings' reign begins, and we slowly process towards the waning year; make time to enjoy, as the wheel never stops turning. Solstice blessings. /|\

Studland wood

This is the way.

The Pinnacle and the Haystack

 

The way the chalk cliffs here have eroded has formed Pocket Bays filled with flint pebbles, the motion of which cause the pockets to erode further, which in turn creates stacks. The Pinnacle and the Haystack above represent the latest chalk stacks in a multi millennia spanning parade of stacks, and their replacements are already being created.

Kimmeridge

 

I've said it before, the Isle of Purbeck stands outside of time. A landscape appearing to have avoided the worst ravages of modernity; I imagine for the most part unchanged for centuries. Mere minutes from the sprawling urban expanse of BCP, it's an entirely different world, a natural wonder. A landscape rich in monuments, the stories of a millennia of human activity carved into the fabric of the isle, so much so that every walk can be a walk through time.

 

Tyneham valley

Laying out her tapestry of vibrant seasonal hues, Spring has arrived in the Tyneham valley. Stunning.

White Nothe smugglers path

White Nothe is a 160m high chalk headland overlooking Weymouth and Portland, it marks the western end of the high Cliffs which begin in Swanage, the coast beyond known as the Weymouth lowlands, although lovely, is far less dramatic. The headland is most famous for its zigzag smugglers Path up from the undercliff, which is thought to be the smugglers path featured in the 19th century novel Moonfleet. The path is one of the best on the Purbeck coast. Mind, the smugglers path is not for the weak hearted or those with a fear of heights, it's really steep and at one point buttock clenchingly scary. Even though I've navigated the path countless times over the years it still gives me the willies, the exhilaration and views though on completion are worth it.     

Purbeck

A walk in Purbeck, along the Jurassic Coast, our first World Heritage Site, a landscape of natural wonders, and a memory repository of countless Sundays exploring, of adventures, not always undertaken safely nor in appropriate conditions if truth were known. Since the early 80's Purbeck has been a place that has called to us, so many memories of days roaming its' wild landscape with dear friends. A treasure trove of fond memories. Walking those same coastal paths this morning, scrambling amongst boulders and scaling slides with one of those dear friends was a welcome exercise in timelessness.

Houns Tout

 

I'd seen that the coastal path down from Houns Tout to Chapmans' Pool was closed back at the Summer Solstice, though this is the first time I've seen the landslide that caused it. Hell of a slide. A whole section of the cliff has gone, the coastal path with it, slumped towards the shore. In time the fences will be moved a few meters inland and a new path established, for now though it's a fair detour inland from Houns Tout to Kingston and then seaward again to Chapmans' Pool. Nice though. The Purbeck coast is in flux. It was ever thus.

Golden dawn

 

Not the clear sky foretold by the weather wizards, though a lovely early morning nevertheless. Our first walk these ways since the beginning of spring; through the summer dogs need to be on the lead, and anyway, the beach is often rammed. This morning the beach was ours. Geoff ran in huge circles, occasionally ducking into the sea or rolling in the sands, he loves it here, from the moment we hit the sands he was off. Me? I just soaked up, it was so peaceful, just the elements and us, a little piece of wild to unwind in. Beautiful. The Isle of Purbeck retains a certain wild magic all of it's own, ever present and almost tangible.

Misty veiw from Picket Post

The veiw southwest from Picket Post; down through Foulford Bottom, out across the Avon Valley, with the Isle of Purbeck faintly visible on the horizon. Lovely.

Encombe

 

The picturesque Encombe valley; for my money one of the loveliest pockets of Purbeck.

Old Harry Rocks and one of the Pinnacles

At the furthest east point of the Purbeck Ridge are Old Harry Rocks and the Pinnacles; if you look east in the distance you'll just see The Needles and The Isle of Wight, once these two chalk headlands would've been joined as a continuous chalk ridge. If you know Purbeck and you ever visit to the The Isle of Wight you'll spot the similarity in geology and environment immediately.