Circular walk including Kimmeridge Bay, Houns Tout and Swyre Head

This will be my last post for the year and as we've been home over the last few months, I thought it would be good to finish on a local walk. The weather forecast for this week is mainly rain, cloud and wind so I chose the best day which was today (20 th December) with the possibility of no rain and maybe a couple of hours of sunshine.

The walk is a circular one starting above Kimmeridge village (car park at SY 919 800) and then across fields to the Bay and from there picking up the South West Coast path going past Clavell Tower towards Chapman's Pool. The walk started off fine with good views along the coast but very overcast. There were many surfers at Kimmeridge and just past Clavell on the east side of the bay, I could see dozens of them striving to get a good wave. Looking out to sea across the channel I could spot rays of sunlight penetrating through lighter cloud but soon there was drizzle and as I approached Rope Lake Head the rain got heavier. Here there is another path that heads inland and eventually up the steep cliff to Swyre Head but not for me today, I needed a longer walk so I donned my waterproofs and continued along the coast. The path was very slippery and sometimes narrow. A while back this section of the coastal path was closed because of landslides but little has been done to make the path more accessible; basically in several places it needs to be wider and further inland so the the wear in the winter is spread.

Spot the surfers on the east side of Kimmeridge Bay.

The path undulates along the coast until it crosses the stream from Encombe to ascend Houns Tout (about 152 m). By now the rain had stopped and things brightened a little to give great views along the coast and also a rainbow looking towards Swyre Head.

View from Houns Tout looking west along the coastal path 

Approaching Houns Tout and looking back over the Enscombe Estate with Swyre Head in the distance, the rainbow looked so close.

There is a convenient seat at the top of the head and so taking advantage of the brief sunshine, I ate my cheese sandwiches and had a cup of coffee ready to continue along another path inland towards the village of Kingston. This route gives great views of the coombe and coast before it reaches the woods and the road into Kingston. At the junction I turned left and followed the road that goes nowhere but enough to get me to "Sheep pens" car park and access to the path to Swyre Head. This passes the location of an air crash dating from 1945 when 27 crew members and passengers died.

Commemorative site of the war time air crash

I think the view of the coast from Swyre Head (190 m) is one of the best along the Dorset section and I like to bring visitors to this spot, particularly on a sunny and clear day. It does involve a slight uphill walk across pastures from the car park, but you do get a great view in both directions and two benches to rest!

Not the clearest day to see the views from Swyre Head. You may spot Clavell Tower and Kimmeridge Bay but on a better day I have seen Portland and Weymouth harbour from here.

From here a path heads west along the cliff top back towards Kimmeridge village. Before long it goes through a gate, labelled "Heaven's Gate" which I think is very apt as the view along this section is very striking on a clear day. There is a new bench nearby that is very well placed and faces over Kimmeridge Bay towards Lulworth. This is a pleasant and sometimes exposed walk but today there was little wind although I needed my rain wear for the last half hour.

Now for some statistics: the walk is 15 km (9.5 miles) and took me about three and half hours walking but of course longer with lunch and varies stops. The total accumulated climb is about 290 m (mainly along the coastal section including the tout). There is a cafe (Clavell's Cafe in Kimmeridge village) and also a pub (Scott Arms) in Kingston opposite the church.

The Bay Cycle Way, Sustrans route 700, July 2016

I have just been to Lancashire and Cumbria  to visit Emily in Lancaster and together do the Morecambe Bay cycle route from Barrow-in -Furness to Glasson dock. The first part of the trip was to get my cycle and panniers with my tent etc from Wareham to Lancashire courtesy of South West trains, Cross Country and Virgin. Unfortunately I hit a bad time with Virgin trains from Birmingham to Lancaster as the cycle carriage was full of luggage and refuse bags, otherwise everything was fine and Ems was at the station to meet me and guide me around the cycle paths of Lancaster and the surrounds. We intended to get the train from Lancaster to Barrow and start the ride there following Sustrans route 700. We left on Sunday getting the first train and having lunch in Barrow before finding Morrison's supermarket and the 700 towards Ulverston. The weather was fine and the only wind we got was on our backs so we wizzed along the coastal track through Roosebeck and Newbiggin without problems.  We then left the coast to go inland to Gleaston where the route passes the Gleaston Watermill and cafe in time for afternoon tea. After this we had a climb and then

Birkrigg Stone Age  Circle or Druid's Temple a little way off the cycle route.

freewheel down to the coast at Bardsea. Here we decided to make a detour to see the Birkrigg Stone circles at the top of Appleby Hill. This meant taking the main coastal road south and then a minor road or track up a hill. At first we missed the turning (there are no signs for the circle) and realising our mistake back-tracked up a steep hill to find the stones set on the common (SD292739) with an amazing view over the coast and our forward route towards Morecambe.
The remainder of the day's ride was straight forward with the sky darkening so we decided to camp at Swarthmoor, a Quaker Hall in Ulverston. This is very close to the town but in a secluded spot in the countryside with gardens and meadows. We had the sole use of the camping meadow and access to the showers, toilets and kitchen. Unfortunately, we had rain for most of the night but both our tents held-up inspite of heavy downpours and we remained dry. After a leisurely breakfast, we set-off in the rain towards Cartmel stopping at Greenodd for a coffee brew (the cafe was closed). After this the cycleway was off-road firstly crossing the Leven Estuary and then across meadows and woodland to rejoin a minor road.

The off-road section after crossing the Leven Estuary. The weather had cleared and this made a nice ride.

Soon after this we came to the highest hill of the route, High Brow Edge( about 170 m in height) which involved a lot of puffing on my part but rewarded by a gentle glide down to Cartmel and a welcome lunch as the rain started again.
Soon after this we reached Grange-over-Sands and a break in town and in the park now in the sunshine. Anyway, I took lead for a while and we immediately got lost! through missing a sign for 700 directing us along the coastal road. No matter, we soon found ourselves and made a diversion to Meathop to meet up with our intended route, just adding a few miles. Soon we reached Witherstack and the village store and a pub, "The Derby Arms" where we had a refreshment before heading over a relatively flat section to reach Levens . We had decided to change our route to make it more interesting and divert along route 70 and then route 6 to rejoin 700 at Milnthorpe. This change also enabled us to find a campsite and for Ems to check out part of route 6 that she helps Sustrans monitor. We tried to stay at a Caravan Club campsite near the River Kent but we were turned away; they did help us find a campsite near Sedgwick, "Lakeland Maze Farm Park" that did allow tents. We did an evening walk down to the village and along the disused canal (Lancaster to Kendal) that had information boards explaining the history of the area and about the bygone canal days. The canal aqueduct still dominates the village made famous in the past from it's gunpowder works that functioned until 1935.
The morning broke clear and our tents soon dried from overnight condensation. It didn't take us long to follow route 6 down the small country lanes, that were naturalising to grass tracks, into Milnthorpe.

Our morning stop at Milnthorpe. Here we were told that the weather was changing to give 6 weeks of sunshine!

The route to Arnside was straightforward alongside the estuary with views of Arnside Knott to the south. This is one of the prominent hills in the area reaching 159 m and giving great views over the bay.

View from the pier at Arnside looking down the Lune estuary.

From here we had a climb out of Arnside to Silverdale. We diverted to the RSPB reserve and walked around the hides to see if we could spot a Marsh Harrior. We had been here before and seen two or three of them but this time we were unlucky. Others told us they'd just seen an adult with some juveniles being harried by some crows. We did see a variety of ducks and some Herons in the water near to the hides.
From here we went on to Silverdale for some lunch and then continued onto Carnforth to find a camp at "Red Barn" on the coast near the village of Bolton le Sands.

View from our camping spot at "Red Barn" looking over the Bay with our cycle route in the distance.

There are plenty of walks from the campsite along the coast in either direction. We walked north a little to find Mill Lane and then went into Bolton le Sands for dinner at an Italian restaurant, Miaitalia, for a great meal.

Camping field at "Red Barn" showing our tents drying in the morning sun. There is also a cafe associated with the site and some picnic tables nearby.

In the morning it tried to rain but it soon brightened up but with a stiff breeze near the shore. This pushed us onto Morecambe where we stopped for refreshments at "The View Cafe" known for it's vintage music, and this gave us a chance to take in the coast and hills that we'd cycled over or around from Grange.

Near the cafe is the statue of Eric Morecambe.

In Morecambe we joined a dedicated cycleway to Lancaster which made route finding easy! It was good to see it well used by cyclists and walkers as well.

Looking towards the Lune Millenium bridge from the cycleway going to Lancaster. This forms part of Sustrans route 6 and was opened to commemorate 2000.

We stayed a while in Lancaster before heading to the Lune shore to follow a dedicated cycleway to Glasson Docks, the end of the Bay Cycle Way. This passes through Conder Green with a pub and also a cafe well situated for cyclists.

The marsh land aside the cycle way between  Conder Green and Glasson. Conder Green is on the right hand side of the photo. On the other side of the Lune is the village of Overton.

Emily at the end of the cycleway ! A very pleasant spot with the cafe, "Lantern O' Er Lune" opposite.

Glasson Dock was once a busy industrial port (after about 1830) connected to the Lancaster canal at Galgate via the Glasson branch that drops about 50 feet from the Lancaster canal itself. The dock itself is still in use and the canal branch still passable for larger boats. We also walked along a very pleasant towpath between Galgate and Glasson passing by six locks through mainly animal pastures.

I couldn't finish without showing a great sunset taken from alongside the Lancaster canal.

This is a great cycle-way that is generally well marked (we found a few problems at the beginning so a Explorer Map is useful). It is hilly in places and I would say, as the prevailing wind is south-west, best done in the direction we had chosen. There are plenty of places to enjoy the scenery and get refreshments and meals. We took three days for the entire ride and this felt comfortable giving plenty of time to explore and stop to make camp etc. There are plenty of bed and breakfasts in the villages and towns and also few campsites.
My return by train went reasonable although I do look forward to the day that they are nationalised again or the dreaded Virgin Trains forced to treat cyclists with more consideration.

Summer 2016 in England

Hi, It's a while since I have posted and so in a few spare moments I thought I would write an update. To start with, I have just finished the carving I did when in Spain in March. This has dried slowly in a open paper bag and thankfully the birch didn't crack. The design is similar to the one made by Ray Mears in his Northern Wilderness series on TV and is based on the type made by the voyeurs in Canada in the 19th century. This is my first attempt at carving and found it interesting, ideal for the evenings and a break from reading.

"Kuksa" or "Noggin" carved from a log of Silver Birch wood from Sandford Woods, carved in Spain and finished here with a coat of Walnut oil.

We have been away to northern England, near Seahouses on the Northumbrian coast where we joined a family get-together for a few days before heading east to see Emily near Lancaster. Whilst in Northumbria we managed our first barbecue of the year, although the temperature dropped in the evening. We have been to this area and Holy Island some years ago when we had the old Kombi VW camper and could recall some of the villages on the coast. Generally the weather was fine and we had some great days visiting "Alnwick Gardens" with it's special treeehouse, water features and also a Hornbean covered pergola.

A view through the Hornbeam archway in the dappled shade.

Tree house with cafe and restaurant in Alnwick gardens. The house is built in a group of old Lime trees although it is constructed of various softwoods such as cedar and pine. 

We also went along the coast to Alnmouth and Bamburgh finding pleasant places to eat and drink, enjoying the sea air strolling the beaches and collecting some drift wood.

Moving on to Carnforth in Lancashire, we helped Ems move her boat and we had a day at the Leighton Moss Reserve but no sightings of Marsh Harriors on this visit. However, I did get some ideas for a Ladybird shelter that would give good use for the birch bark I had left over from making the Kuksa. I made a couple of these when I returned home.We also found some interesting walks in the nearby woodlands; lots of Ash trees just coming into leaf and woodland flowers blooming. Other trips included a great walk on small paths through a mixture of lanes, woodland and meadows from Bolton to Carnforth and a walk along the coastal strip near Bolton le Sands northwards besides the estuary.

Moving Em's boat on the canal.

Morecombe Bay taken from near Bolton le Sands looking towards Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria.

Large burr (twisted hard grain often used for carving bowls or cups) seen on a Silver Birch in the woods near Leighton Moss (RSPB reserve of  "Autumn Watch" fame).

Last weekend we had a little adventure on the river Dart. We had two Canadian canoes that we had made and took them down the Dart from Totnes (with the outgoing tide) and camped overnight with our grandson (plus his parents and auntie!) All went well until one canoe capsized (me included of course) on colliding at the wrong angle with a bow wave from a motor boat. Anyway we survived (my life jacket and daughters helped me in that!), the canoe didn't sink to the bottom and we were able to continue after a change of clothes and a bit of shivering on my part. The last section was hard with a short stretch against the tide and wind. The trip was something I had wanted to try after reading the adventures of some of the early Canadian and American river pioneers; I now have a new found respect for them! Next time we have to find some rapids to see how the canoes behave or perhaps I need to practice more, we'll see.

Camp in farmer Tom's field on the river Dart.

The camping field is next to the river in a great location near a footpath that goes upstream to a nearby village and pub. It was great to be able to have our own fire to sit around at night; we were hoping the fire would keep until morning but it was a fry-up using our burners for breakfast and a short row upstream to return to Totnes.

Spain - our visit to the sun in 2016

Guardamar beach today with a slight breeze off the sea.

We are now back in one of our favourite places in the sunshine but with cold nights. After the cold and wind of Bristol Airport, this made a welcome change yesterday with temperatures reaching 21 C during the daytine. It seems odd visiting Spain without the campervan. The last time we visited was three years ago when we drove back from the Guardamar del Segura through the mountains and snow-fall near Santander. We are here, in an apartment in Guardamar, for the month of February and have transport for this time so should be able to explore the area and visit some of our favourite spots from past visits as well as being lazy on the beach when the sun permits.
Meantime the weather has cooled but should recover by the weekend. We have taken the opportunity to tour around visiting the market on Wednesday in Guardamar, the campsite at Mah jal where we stayed before and some of the places such as Dolores, Catral, La Marina and it's conurbation inland. The campsite has increased in size and fuller than we recall and nearby the main plaza in Dolores seems to have modernised a little. The beaches at La Marina have not changed but the wild camping we saw peviously has been stopped. Unfortunately, the beach was windy as storm clouds brewed on the horizon but did not develop into rain.

Looking south from the beach at La Marina with the sea cottages on the right. There was a cold wind and choppy sea.

Since last writing we've been touring around the area with a day in Orihuela and then a trip to Hondon via Albatera and then north to Castella (in the wind!). Today we had a stroll to the mouth of the Rio Segura through the dunefields and then back along the beach for lunch and afternoon on the beach. The wind has dropped today and the temperatures at midday were around 20 C so pleasant. We are planning to go through to the market at Callosa tomorrow and then further south.

A few fishermen endure the cold wind blowing from the river mouth. This is along the harbour wall at Guardamar with views north towards Alicante. The sun later broke through and the wind lessened to allow a paddle in the sea; too cold to swim!!

The weather continues to be good in the low twenties and nice to be on the beach in the afternoons. Today we went towards La Marina and I had a walk in the dunefields alongside the saltpans at one point. The most common seabird or wader along the beaches here seems to be the Sanderling (Calidris alba) in small groups foraging along the tideline.

The most common wader in the area at the moment, Sanderling, also found along our Dorset beaches.

Here are a few shots near the dunes and saltpans I took on the walk this morning:

Awaiting action on the shoreline. There are some interesting cottages along the seafront at this point.

The beginning of the saltpans looking north towards the urban areas.

These are some of the beds used to harvest salt from the sea. Notice the uge pile of salt in the far distance. The footpath goes right across the centre between the salt pans. There were a few Oystercatchers around but little else.

The view across the dunes to the north. This is a protected area with bird hides and information points. It makes an interesting stroll at this time of year.

Made a trip south today down to Cartagena which is about one hours drive from here but straight forward on the A7 motorway. It took us a while to get orientated and find the old town via "Parque arquelogico Molinete" (part of the demolished old city dating to the second century BC, during Roman rule). Incidentially, Cartagena is where the famous Hannibal left to cross the Pyrenees and Alps to fight Rome.
From there we found the port and wide walkways/promenades that lead past the harbour and museums. We noticed some statues along the way and one of the most striking was this bronze one pictured below:

A bronze statue to the victims of terrorism. This is near the monument to the Heroes of Santiago de Cuba and Cavite not far from the cruise terminal.

The buildings on the walk back to the Plaza de Espana via the Calle Mayor are spectacular with many being renovated to a high standard. Many had window terraces but all slightly different and painted in different colours lining both sides of the street.
We spent the last week going to the gym in Guardamar and relaxing on the beach or walking in the Reseve near the beaches, very lazy really.
We are now back from Spain and have a few weeks at home before returning for Dad's 90th birthday in March. We are returning to the same area but a different apartment with disabled facilities and on the ground floor. We will also have a car and a couple of weeks to relax in the sun and get around.
Whilst home, I have completed a couple of projects that originated from ideas I had when we visited Cuba. The first was a "valet stand" which we have also seen in Spain. I made this from beech wood and included a draw at the bottom. It isn't exactly like the traditional early Spanish ones we saw in Cuba but does have elements in the design that I took from these but excluded some of the curvy lines. The other project is something I have been doing on and off over the winter and have now finished. This is a Cuban Rocking chair that are quite distinct and we often saw them on verandas on the homestays or along the terraces of the houses or bungalows as we walked along the pavements. They are pretty low in profile but seemed comfortable and really did rock!. I basically copied the design as best I could from photos and for a first attempt made the chair of pine and spruce wood. I did not use any nails or screws and the thing is held together with mortice and tenons, housing joints and dovetails. I soaked the wood in preservative before glueing and have applied linseed oil to the wood and it now awaits painting with linseed oil paint. As I used waterproof glue, I am hoping this treatment will be better than the modern treatment methods and give the chair a long life outdoors. Only time will tell.

Valet stand made of beech and finished with Shellac.

My version of a Cuban Rocking chair made of redwood and spruce. This will be painted  (to match the flower pots!) and some cushions made;  this will hopefully rock away for a few years. I plan version two of a slightly modified design in cedarwood for next winters project!