When we woke up, it was miserable once again. We drove down to Charmouth for a bit, then went on to Golden Cap, a National Trust area, where we parked and got out. My National Trust card expired in July so I was trying to make the most of it, as I didn't plan on renewing my membership.
We donned coats and rain jackets and went for a walk. The poor weather had affected the path so much that there was tree fallen across one section of it... I tried to move it and ended up not budging it at all, but with very sore arms for my troubles! We walked all the way to the top of Golden Cap, the highest point on the south coast of Britain. This was also part of the Jurassic Coast, and the cliffs nearby were an orangey-red colour, which made the sand the same colour and probably resulted in the name "Golden Cap"! It was awful weather, but definitely led to some moody photographs!
After conquering that hill, we walked back to the car, then drove to Seatown, the little village you can just see in the image above and took a picture of Golden Cap. We then carried on along the coast.
There was this little almost-island nearby called Portland and it looked interesting so we went for a drive around. There was lots of old war buildings dotted around, and Portland was a major port for boats to set off for D-Day in 1944. There were a couple of prisons on the island, a castle, as well as quarries for Portland stone, used in St Paul's Cathedral in London. We left the island, both of us thinking it was quite an odd place!
We pulled into a cafe on the beach and went to get some lunch. It was quite windy but the weather was starting to improve - the rain clouds had evidently moved on. After lunch, we drove to the little village of West Lulworth, where we went for a bit of a walk around. It was a pretty little place!
We drove down to Lulworth Cove, but it was a sunny Saturday afternoon in June and the place was heaving. There were just so many people walking around (most with ice creams) and nowhere to park. So instead we drove up to park at Durdle Door. The carpark there was really expensive, but I wanted to see Durdle Door and there was nowhere else to stop. I think this is definitely one place where it pays to be there either really early or really late, when no one is there. At 3:30pm when we got there, it was just busy. Undeterred, I got out, put money in the machine for a ticket and went walking.
For those who might not know, Durdle Door is part of the Jurassic Coast and is a natural limestone arch over the water. To get to Durdle Door, you had to walk down quite a steep path. We didn't go down onto the beach but along the coast path so we could go around the bay to get a good view over the scene below. It really was beautiful, and I can see why it is one of the most photographed places in Britain. I took a lot of photos, and I love them all so they're all going on this blog!
We left Durdle Door, stopped into a supermarket for food and went looking for a campsite. There was a walk for charity going on and we saw some people in West Lulworth, Durdle Door, and it even went through the campsite that we chose for the night. It was so busy down this part of England that campsites everywhere was chockers (there also didn't seem to be too many of them, so they were all really full). The one we chose was a farm campsite, but, as we later discovered, it was also hosting a Duke of Edinburgh school group. Great. The bathrooms were always busy so we left as soon as we could the next morning.