Date: Location: Walk Leader: Participants: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 10th March 2015 Kimmeridge Peter Peter, Ray, Rob 6.7 miles Large car park at Kimmeridge - free at this time of year but £3 for toll road in high season. Bear Cross ★★▲ |
We started from the car park overlooking Kimmeridge Bay and climbed the steep path up to Clavell Tower. This is now owned by the Landmark Trust and available to rent though, on their web site, it looks to be booked for about the next two years!
We were surprised to see about 25 surfers out on the bay enjoying some reasonable waves but apparently not as good as the surf forecast suggested.
We walked as far as the waterfall at Egmont Bight but there was no enthusiasm at all for challenging the heights of Houns Tout, about 480 feet. An earlier suggestion for a circular route turning off at Rope Head Lake and heading across the top of Swyre Head had already been quickly rejected when it was pointed out that that went up to about 650 feet. We met an elderly couple (elderly by our standards) and they pressed on regardless in spite of the gentlemen's arthritis. We turned back along the same path.
The map does not look too exciting so I have included a route profile as well. There were those who claimed it was really hilly but that is obviously not true! The path is generally about 50 feet above sea level and the highest point we touched is under 250 feet so we were only going up about 200 feet. It's a shame the page isn't wider and then I could have made the slopes look a lot more shallow!
It was interesting to see how much more some of the ledges had become exposed on our return journey. It was also interesting to see how the ledges affect the wave pattern with waves at 90 degrees to each other in some places.
We stopped on the way home to Rob's at Bear Cross. It was a little expensive but the food and the service were both very good.
This weeks quiz question is: "Why is Rob rolling on the ground convulsed with laughter?"