Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door, Dorset

It's an age since I last posted anything here, but I want to share a few of the images I took while on a short break in Dorset recently and I want to start with Lulworth Cove on Dorset's Jurassic Coast.

Lulworth Cove Panorama

All of these images were taken with my Panasonic Lumix GX1 compact system camera, a versatile piece of kit I am able to manage more or less single handed, which is handy since my left wrist and hand were in plaster at the time.

Lulworth attracts around half a million visitors a year, but as you can see on a grey day in early June there weren't too many people about.

Lulworth Cove

The cove has formed over a couple of million years thanks to bands of rock of varying resistance being washed away by the actions of the sea. The unique shape of the cove is a result of what is known as wave diffraction. The narrow entrance to the cove causes waves to bend into an arced shape as they flow into the bay.

Looking back at Lulworth Cove from the northwest

Following the coastal path westwards towards Durdle Door involves a steep climb over the headland, but the views are well worth the effort.

Man of War Bay

Laying between Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door is Man of War Bay, only accessible now from the sea or by swimming through the arch of Durdle Door.

Approaching Durdle Door

The path down to Durdle Door is not as steep as the one leaving Lulworth Cove, but since it consists for the most part of loose gravel care must be taken on the way down.

Durdle Door Bay

Like Lulworth Cove the shingle beach at Durdle Door attracts many thousands of visitors annually, but the less than brilliant weather meant we had the beach pretty much to ourselves.

The World famous arch at Durdle Door

Dorset-born Arthur Moule wrote these lines about Durdle Door for his 1879 book of poetry Songs of heaven and home, written in a foreign land:

Shall the tide thus ebb and flow for ever?
and for evermore
Rave the wave and glance the ripple through the
rocks at Durdle Door?