Weymouth to Lulworth Cove 17.5km
Ascension 727m  Accumulated ascension 5377m

Today started as a gentle stroll then changed to a gut busting roller coaster before coming to what is probably Dorset’s most popular natural attraction.

At breakfast we talked to one of the entrants in the Ironman 70.3 as he had his bike propped up against the wall in the dining room. It was an £8000 Canyon Speedmax CFR. His wife said it was worth more than her car.

It was a 2km walk around the Weymouth Bay on a dead flat promenade past the attractive Georgian sea front. At the end there was a gentle hill then through a leisure centre with all the usual fair ground rides and past the huge abandoned Riviera Hotel. Just beyond this point we should have been able to see the Osmington White Horse, a hill figure that was cut into the hillside in 1888. The figure depicts King George III on his horse. There was a side path to a viewing point but we missed it which pissed us off a little and by the time we realised, we were too far along the coast to make it worthwhile going back. I have downloaded a photo off the internet so you can see what it would have been like.

At Osmington Mills we came across the lovely thatched Smugglers Inn pub and after some gentle climbing on a grass path, squeezed between fence and cliffs. Our notes talked of a cute wooden church but on the south west England cuteness scale we would give it a two out of ten. The church is dedicated to St Catherine. I guess the spinsters who missed out on a husband at St Catherine’s Chapel in Abbotsbury can try again here.

Then the rough stuff really began. The geology had changed to white chalk vertical cliffs. The path made several lengthy and steep climbs through places wonderfully named West Bottom, Middle Bottom and Scratchy Bottom. The sign to Scratchy Bottom is one of the most photographed on the South West Coast Path. It was not a hot day and there was a cooling sea breeze so the climbs were not too bad, but the steep descents were very difficult, tough on the feet and knees and slippery on the limestone pebbles. Eventually you are rewarded with the first glimpse of the famous natural arch at Durdle Door.

Geologically speaking Durdle Door is nothing more than an arch of limestone rock set out at sea but joined to the mainland by a narrow sliver of land or isthmus. Though it appears to have been there forever, it has of course been formed by the tides eating the rock away – the same force that will eventually destroy it. There was a big crowd at Durdle Door, it having road access, a large car park and a holiday camp.

From the arch it was a quick walk to the next cove, Lulworth Cove, one of the most picturesque coves on the south coast. Adjacent to this was one of the Coast Walk’s most idyllic villages, West Lulworth. We are staying at the very smart Lulworth Cove Inn and after the roller coaster walk over the cliffs this afternoon we are lucky we just have to go downstairs for a pub meal and a beer.