The Jurassic Coast – England, UK

Last Updated on March 20, 2023 by PowersToTravel

 

I was somewhat suspicious of the Jurassic Coast England as a destination option.  I bumped into it on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and  learned that its unique characteristics are its fossils and cliffs.  Cliff and beach erosion have exposed a fantastic amount of fossils.  Although I have an interest in archaeology, I just didn’t see that we would want to get our hands into the rocks and mud in England.

There were several key places which were on the no-miss list for our recent trip to England:  London, Bletchley Park, Stonehenge and Land’s End.  They cover a bit of territory.  Having studied the road net and decided one could get to Lands End basically from the northeast, from Stonehenge, the clear way to leave Cornwall would be via the south coast.  But what does the south coast look like?  Is it over-populated?  Is it picturesque?  How fast are the roads?

But, we did have to go across the South Coast, and so I put the Jurassic Coast on the list.  But, where exactly is the Jurassic Coast?  In the US, a national park or other notable site is marked by a visitor center;  this UNESCO location spread for almost one hundred miles along the English Channel.  Which town or towns should we visit?   We didn’t have time for all.   We only had a couple of days to make the journey east to Canterbury.

With the help of the organization’s website, I began to investigate each of the towns.  Google images helped a lot.

Lulworth clearly stood head and shoulders above the other towns.  The cliff views and picturesque village nailed it, along with its iconic Durdle Door, a rocky headland with a hole drilled through it.  (I later learned from Wikipedia that Durdle is from the Old English ‘thirl’ meaning drill.)   Needless to say, it was aptly named.

I also targeted Charmouth, as it was positioned at approximately lunchtime, and had a small heritage center.

From Penzance we took off after breakfast.  Our route, the A30, was dual-carriageway, and fast.  We just zipped along; that is, until we landed in a traffic jam just west of Exeter.    After slowly moving for about a half hour, we finally made our way past the accident site.  At this point, Exeter fell off the possible list of places to pop into.  We just zipped by on the A30 then A35, heading for Charmouth.    Hungry and late,  my stomach cried out as we almost missed the “Old Inn” Kilmington, just before Charmouth in Axminster.

The weather was lovely and we ate outside on the patio.  This is not a food blog.  I have no picture of the excellent quiche.

Very shortly later we arrived in Charmouth.  It was a small village, and the road dead-ended at the beach and the Heritage Center.   Strewn with rocks we understood instantly why this region is called the Jurassic Coast.  While some people were trying to sunbathe on little spots of sand, many others were slowly wandering around, bent over at the waist, picking up and discarding rocks.  We checked out the fossil shop, did not buy, the museum, and did not stay long.

I was anxious to get to Lulworth Cove with enough time to hike around and see the view and photograph the Durdle Door.  I do not regret my decision.  Lulworth Cove must be a really busy place in high season as we were there in mid-June and the huge parking lots were almost full as it was.   Luckily I had arranged our hotel almost nine months in advance, and we checked into our seaview double at the Lulworth Cove Inn.  What a fantastic view!

The weather was warm, warm enough for me to want to unzip the legs from my tropicwear pants as we hiked along the crest of the cove.  The Durdle Door was located down some very steep steps at a distance from the Cove.  I’d mapped it all out, identifying the parking lot of the caravan park to the west of the Cove as the most likely hopping off point.

One of the pieces of information I so desperately need when traveling is “What time of day has the best light” on the phenomenon we are there to see.  A non-photographer may think, “Oh, I can just see it and it’s lovely.”  The photographer in me, or perhaps my father’s voice in my head says, “Oh the light is bad;  you need to visit this in the morning / evening.”

The big question was “What time of day is the right time for the Durdle Door?  It is positioned on an east-west peninsula.  So, morning? afternoon?

I’m so sad to say that we didn’t make it there.  We didn’t even get to the parking lot at the caravan park.  My blood sugar dropped too low, and I would have needed to wait at least a half hour before it would start to rise.  We decided that vacations are also times to just enjoy and relax.  We plunked ourselves on a bench in the visitor’s center and watched a fantastic short movie showing the progression of time and tide and impact on the cove, then took a nap and had dinner.

I considered spending a few hours the following morning wandering around or climbing down to the Door, however quickly realized that Lulworth Cove and the Durdle Door itself are AFTERNOON pictures.

I would not mind another trip to the Jurassic Coast.  With only our two little bites of Charmouth and Lulworth, I was left wanting so much more.

Related Links

The Jurassic Coast Trust – the most informative site to check out

The Old Inn at Kilmington – food was good

Lulworth Cove Inn – beautifully located and comfortable, with a real “double” bed!  We stayed in the Seaview Double, since it had a King-sized bed that was truly king-sized, not just two mattresses pushed together.  I felt there was no added value in the Superior Seaview, since I didn’t want a bathtub in the room.  We learned on our arrival that the added value is that the Superior Seaview is on the 2nd floor, while the Seaview is on the 3rd floor.  Both looked out over the patio.  I wonder how noisy the patio gets in the heat and long evenings of summer.   Given the choice again, I would stick with the Seaview Double.  In spite of the stairs and sloping ceilings, there’s less risk of bar noise coming up from the room below, and it’s less expensive.

The Durdle Door – more about it from Wikipedia

Map

 

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