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venerdì 17 aprile 2015

Purbecks coast path - from Lullworth to Winspit

A while back, almost a month, I went with my housemate Robin to explore the coast path on the Jurassic Coast. I had already been there many times, but always hiking, or just to get to the many climbing spots that can be found on the sea cliffs. This time instead we wanted to cycle along, starting from Lullworth and proceeding eastwards to ideally get to Swanage.

We catch the train at 9am, directed to Wareham, while we wake up with a take away coffee and some brownies baked the previous evening. It is a lovely sunny day and we can't wait to get started. From Wareham we head south past the A351, and then right on Holme Lane where we take some layers off. The road is nice and quiet, the legs are warming up and we can't stop smiling. We get to West Lullworth quite quickly, but from there onwards it is all going to be a struggle. This section of the coast path, which I have never walked before, is much more hilly then the eastern bit (between Swanage and Winspit). From the beginning we already have to dismount and walk the bikes, both uphill and downhill. The view is gorgeous, and luckily we manage to find here and there ways to avoid the steepest bits. The only real fear is to end up in a closed road: a large shooting range for tanks occupies most of this areas and visitors are not allowed everywhere. It would not be nice to end this trip blown up into pieces.

By lunch time we are back on the path, but way behind where we were hoping to be, so now we know that we will not get all the way to Swanage. In a way it is a relief because now we know that we can take a left at any time and start heading back to Wareham. First though we want to get to Winspit: this is a nice little cove where a quarry used to be, and now the cligg is all bolted for sport climbing (even if the sign says that it is not allowed...). The idea for later on in the season is to come here for the whole weekend to enjoy camping, climbing, cycling and swimming.

From Winspit we head back north. First a big climb, then some tiny country lanes lead us back to the A351 which unfortunately we have to follow past Corfe Castle. From there we cycle on some lovely country roads and paths, through woods and fields. Overall these final kilometers are flat and allow us to quickly get back to the starting point in Wareham.

Here are some photos from the trip. Enjoy :)

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