Travel Diaries: Exploring Durdle Door, Dorset
I've been doing a lot of exploring lately,
Especially in my home country - England. I must admit, when I was younger the idea of exploring England sounded a bit boring and nowhere near exotic enough for my wanderlust. However the more I discover in England, the more I realise how much beauty is hidden particularly in the countryside.
So while Elliott were on our way down to our bi-annual trip to the West Country we decided that we would stop off at Durdle Door, which is a natural arch in the county of Dorset. It is a protected site, with many beautiful landscapes to marvel at and a wonderful place to feel closer to nature. I love the fact that majority of landscape has been untouched for quite some time.
When we arrived the weather was pretty overcast and the wind was fierce. However we felt rather lucky as we were the only people there for quite some time which provided us with the perfect opportunity to take some photos of the deserted beach. Even though the wind was bitter and the sky was cloudy I couldn't quite believe that we had the beach all to ourselves.
The walk down to the beach is pretty steep and a little difficult especially in the bad weather - so I'd suggest bringing some walking boots if you have any. While the walk can be rather long there are some truly beautiful sights to behold along the way. The ocean cuts in and out of the cliffside forming a rather dramatic coastline.
Once you get around halfway down to the beach the marked out path forks and you're met by a sign. One way takes you down to Durdle Door and the other to the Man O' War beach. We decided to take a small detour and see what the Man O' War beach had to offer - we had quite a lot of time to kill and thought it'd be a shame to miss out. The stairs leading down are very steep and very slippery this time of year, so again make sure you have the appropriate footwear.
The Man O' War beach is extremely beautiful and creates a calm bay amongst the sloping hills and spiked rocks. When we reached the water's edge we actually managed to spot some people snorkeling around the rocks under the turbulent waves. We discovered that you could, if you wished, to walk around the whole bay. But because it was rather wet on this particular day we decided to sit by the ocean for a while and then make our way back to Durdle Door.
When we reached the actual Durdle Door beach - it was marvellous. Seeing the sea arch up close was breath-taking and we spent quite a while just standing by the ocean and watching the waves roll in around the arch. In amongst the cliffs of the beach there are many caverns, mainly used by birds, that go quite deep into the rockface. While it was tempting to explore inside them - we knew that this could potentially be quite dangerous due to the undercutting of rocks, so instead we walked along beside them.
Needless to say the walk back up to where we had parked was quite strenuous and a lot steeper than we thought when we were coming down. Despite this we both made it back to the top in once piece and chugged a large bottle of water between us. All in all I'd say Durdle Door is definitely worth the visit providing you don't mind getting a little sweaty and have the right footwear.
