After Broad Bench
the main thing that dominates the whole stretch of coast is Gad Cliff, towering 150 meters out of the sea for the next two kilometres. You can really feel the ancient vibe along this stretch, but the buzz of motor boats gets more frequent as soon as you get close to Lulworth Cove.
Lulworth Cove itself is really not that impressive from the sea. It sort of creeps up on you and just appears to be a small gap in the cliffs either side. This is where things start getting busy, with weekend warriors zooming around on various forms of internal combustion craft. Then you’ ve got the tourist boats taking customers on a joy ride to see Durdle Door. They are high speed RIBs and they come close throwing off huge wake, so be ready for some fun.
Arriving at the Door, there had to be at least 500 people on the beach just inside the huge natural arch. You can see why. It’ s an impressive sight, a freeze frame in time as the rocks stand there showing their ancient past in their curves and fault lines. Another kilometre or so at the other end of the beach there is a fantastic tunnel through the headland, Bat Hole. That’ s as far as we paddled and after a long coffee break, we headed back. Against the tide at first but it wouldn ' t be long until the flow was in our favour.
Soon though the tide was the least of our worries. As we passed Durdle Door, a thick fog dropped and engulfed us within minutes. Visibility was down to about 50 metres. The joyride boats were now crawling along sounding fog horns. We had to hug the shore very tightly all the way back. It was seriously disorientating. We couldn ' t see a thing and just had to trust that as long as the shore line was on our left, we were heading the right way.
Within a couple of hours the fog slowly started to lift, giving amazing views through the haze towards Broad Bench and Kimmeridege. The Bench was now showing a small tidal race on the flood, which added some fun to finish our trip.
It’ s always a great site seeing the van in the distance on the last leg of a long paddle. The evening sun was throwing stunning light into the bay. The short but lovely last leg of our adventure into Kimmeridge was across crystal clear waters and wildlife encrusted rocks – it really is an amazing place.
For those who fancy the same paddle the whole trip is roughly 26 kilometres but could easily be broken down into smaller chunks if you have less time. Be aware of the tidal flow and get up to date weather forecasts before you leave. Remember to let somebody know your journey plan and approximate finishing time and always go as a group.
Safety first and all that …
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