This is message 3 of 3 closing posts on my blog about the South West Coast Path.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who has made my hiking adventure possible:
- My family, who had to do without me for more than 9 weeks and had to do all sorts of things that I normally do.
- Encounter Walking Holidays for arranging my luggage transport, the overnight addresses and all information and tips they have given me.
- Luggage Transfers for actually carrying my luggage, which was always present when I had finished walking.
- The weather gods (everyone can fill in their favorites).
- Colleagues, some of whom also took over from me while I was away.
- B & B, hotels, etc.
- Laundrettes that helped me with the laundry or even did it for me.
- Ferrymen who made sure that I did not have to wade through more rivers…
- Bar staff and wait staff in pubs, restaurants and other occasions that took care for my drinks and meals.
- All the nice people I met along the way, fellow hikers and others, for the nice conversations from short to long.
- Blog readers and commenters for following my adventures and the reactions I received (both via the blog and in the mail and the app).
The last lyrics from Rush are very applicable, Marathon:
It’s not how fast you can go
The force goes into the flow
If you pick up the beat
You can forget about the heat
More than just survival
More than just a flash
More than just a dotted line
More than just a dash
It’s a test of ultimate will
The heartbreak climb uphill
Got to pick up the pace
If you want to stay in the race
More than blind ambition
More than simple greed
More than a finish line
Must feed this burning need
In the long run…
[Chorus:]
From first to last
The peak is never passed
Something always fires the light that gets in your eyes
One moment’s high, and glory rolls on by
Like a streak of lightning
That flashes and fades in the summer sky
Your meters may overload
You can rest at the side of the road
You can miss a stride
But nobody gets a free ride
More than high performance
More than just a spark
More than just the bottom line
Or a lucky shot in the dark
In the long run…
[Chorus]
You can do a lot in a lifetime
If you don’t burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First you need endurance
First you’ve got to last…
[Chorus]
After a little later breakfast than the last few weeks, we drive from Folkestone to Dover. A half hour drive. We are well in time for our ferry from 10:40 am, but not so early that we get an earlier ferry. No problem, we just waita little and then we can already board.
This is not the last message of this blog yet. I will soon have a look back with an overview of my adventure in numbers …
Then it goes straight to Folkestone, where we stay one last night before we take the ferry tomorrow and drive home. We come through Poole and also past South Haven Point where we take the same ferry as yesterday, but now by car.
In Sandstone we check in and stay at the hotel to eat and have a drink. We have a room with seaview!
After breakfast and saying goodbye to our hosts, David and Ann, the last walk finally started. Lise had some problems with the blisters of yesterday, but still wanted to try to walk.
From Old Harry it slowly went down to end up on the beach. The last kilometers went over the beach to South Haven Point where Lise was waiting for me. After passing a bit of nudist beach, the end sculpture came into view.
Of course we made the necessary photos with the end sculpture. Unfortunately there was nothing to drink in the neighborhood of the end sculpture. So with the ferry and the bus to Poole for a well-deserved pint.
Today started packing the bags. They have to be ready at 09.00 so that they can be brought to the next overnight address for us. In the weeks that dad had to do this every morning he has developed a system for packing his bags for himself. But because now part of his luggage is already in the car and a part of my luggage has to be put in the bags I have obviously spoiled the whole system. But after some puzzling everything is neatly in the bags and we go downstairs for breakfast (a real English one course).
First we walk to Lulworth Cove this is a round cove that originated naturally. We walk around it. We start across a pebbly beach, man, is that a hard walk. A little after half of the cove there is a staircase that we take to walk further up around the cove.
After having rested we continue and then we immediately go down again. As we walk down we see several military vehicles including a number of tanks with lots of cows around them in different colors running from one side to the other. Once we got down we immediately go up again and so we started the second climb of the day. On the way up we saw some left behind cows running behind the rest and once up it was time to catch our breath. From the top of the hill we could also see a castle, or what was left of it. After you have gone up you usually end up going down again. We did not have to wait long because almost immediately after we got up we had to go down again but now we also stayed down.
After a stretch without too much height differences, we arrive at a beach where there are a lot of people (still on the military terrain). Here we have the choice to walk further along the Coast Path or to go to Tyneham. Tyneham is a ghost village, it was abandoned in 1943 by all residents so that the army could prepare for D-Day. Because the village is still in military training grounds, the residents have never been able to return and it has become a ghost village. The church and the school building have been refurbished and there should be touchscreen signs with the stories of the former residents. Of course we choose to take the detour and take a look in the ghost village. When we get there, we first walk into the parking lot in the hope that there is someone who sells drinks. But we are unlucky, no one is selling anything. So we walk to the old buildings that we had left behind for a moment. This should be Tyneham. But we do not find much more than a farm with a shed, some stables and a chicken coop. Where the school and church are is a big question for us. After looking around for a while, we decide that it is a real ghost village. At the moment it is pretty much gone, but if so many people claim that it is here, the village will occasionally be ghosting around here.
When we leave the ghost village behind us it immediately goes up again and then slowly but surely zigzagging down. On the way we meet several cows again, this time only in 2 different colors. Eventually we walk out of the military terrain and shortly after we arrive at Kimmeridge Bay. There are a lot of people on the beach here and there is also a parking space nearby. Here we are more fortunate, someone sells not only bottled water but also ice creams. We fill our water supply and both order an ice cream that we then eat at the edge of the cliff above the beach. When the ice creams are done we continue and we briefly go inside the Marine Center. There we have a short chat and after we tell them that we are not going to the beach but are walking, we are asked if we have empty water bottles that we would like to fill. To fill the water supply a little further, we have two empty bottles that are filled and then we quickly move on.
Of course, it immediately goes up again, luckily with steps, otherwise it would have been very annoying to go up the steep hill. Here the steps go almost completely up to the top but that is not always the case. In the previous climbs we had today, we had either no or only a few steps up. But when there are no official steps, there are often a kind of stepped treads where people have often walked.
Now that we have walked inland, we can walk to the village where we spend the night, but we can also walk a part of tomorrow’s route. That saves us a lot of mileage tomorrow and is not very far because the village where we have to go is still on the other side of the headland where the Coast Path runs around. So we walk that piece too. My feet do hurt but tomorrow we go walking again and I already have blisters so then we better go on for a bit so that tomorrow we have an easier route. Of course it immediately goes up again with here and there steps that have been created by the walkers who have gone before us. There is a bench at the top but we decide to continue because the climb was not very steep and now we can walk straight ahead. Then we come to the dip that we had seen coming from afar and we have to go down steeply and then steeply up again. Both sides are fully equipped with steps and that is only good because it is a lot steeper than we expected. When we are up we rest on a bench again before we continue with the last part of the route of today.
After our short break, we walk on a stretch that remains fairly even at first and then slowly begins to go down. Eventually we end up at Winspit Quarry, this is the end point of the route today. But even though this is the end point we are not there yet. We still have to get into the village. So we go from the mine inland towards the village. Near the village we first have to go through a pasture with cows and then we end up in the village. Here we first pass the pub, but now we walk past it. We still have to check in and we are already too late for that. We had to call in advance that we were not going to make it but in the middle of nowhere there was no reception and when we came closer to the village we also got no reception because it turns out they do not have that in this village. Fortunately we can still check in and after a well-deserved shower we go back to the pub for pasties and something to drink.
The first part is a very relaxed walk along the Weymouth promenade. There were more than 100 Porsches lined-up here yesterday. Apparently the English Porsche club has a weekend in Weymouth.
After the break, I encounter a large number of runners. Apparently there is some competition today that is partly along the Coast Path. I give them as much room as possible. It is no fun to run up and down hills with this heat.
Then, when I am busy with the highest ascent of today, a whole cloud front suddenly comes rolling up the land from the sea. I currently walk above the clouds. But if I descend later, I end up in the middle of them.
I walk up here over the chalk cliffs. I go down and up steeply a few more times. The runners keep coming. Then I see, very vaguely through the clouds, Durdle Door. I try to take pictures of it, but that does not work out too well. So on it goes.
After another ascent and descent I finally have a good view of Durdle Door. I should not have worried, it has to be very foggy if you can’t see Durdle Door.
But I have a few nice photos and walk on quickly, between all the tourists. That goes on until Lulworth Cove. There is a huge parking lot and from there you can see all the tourists slogging up the hill…
I quickly turn to West Lulworth, a minute or 10 inland. We have a B&B there tonight and I have arranged with Lise to meat each other at the Castle Inn. West Lulworth is a small hamlet where almost all buildings have a thatched roof. Even the bus shelter has a thatched roof…
When Lise arrives, we drink something together and then we take the car to the parking lot at Durdle Door and walk there again. It would be a shame if Lise was so close and did not see it.
It immediately goes all the way up the hill. Here I walk through a surreal landscape of rocks that seem to be thrown down here and there. Here, in the past, many rocks and stones have been ‘harvested’ for all kinds of construction projects.
I walk back on the eastern side. Here it mainly goes along the cliffs. Until the last part where I go all the way up again. There are many butterfly bushes here. But, unfortunately, only relatively few butterflies.
Along the prison it goes towards the harbor. The prison here, Verne Prison, has a ‘nice’ record to its name. In December 1955, John Patrick Hannan escaped from this prison using knotted sheets (of all things) and he has not been arrested again to this day. This makes him the longest fugitive prisoner ever.
Many rocks today, the whole island is rock and rock is also mined. And all because someone once said 
After a while I arrive at The Fleet. 
About halfway through this part I arrive at the Moonfleet Manor Hotel. Until that time I feel totally Remy, from the Swannery to Moonfleet Manor I have not met anyone and I have not seen anyone. Nice and quiet.
During the second part of my walk along The Fleet I see more people. This part is clearly more popular. There is also more civilization here, holiday parks and military sites.
After the second and last caravan park, the Coast Path goes through the bushes for a while. A little later a not so nice part follows along a fence of a military training camp.
Eventually I arrive at Ferry Bridge. Here the Coast Path goes two ways, to Weymouth (I will go there tomorrow) and to Portland (I walk there today). The route to Portland is a little boring, just along the busy road to the island.
