Day 21 - West Lulworth to Worth Matravers

Time Departed: 10.00am

Time Arrived: 4.00pm 

Distance: 20kms

Cumulative Distance: 327kms 

Percentage Complete: 93% 

Number of Steps: 32,000 (424,000)

Walking Grade: Moderate, strenuous and challenging in that order!

Weather: Sunny in the morning, overcast and windy in the afternoon

Accommodation: Limestone at Lulworth Hotel 

Feelings: Henk - Apprehensive , Di - Dead nervous

Our taxi driver, Ang, was waiting for us outside the hotel for our trip to Worth Matravers where we would walk back to West Lulworth. This was arranged by our walking company as there was no accommodation available at Worth Matravers.

The trip took thirty minutes and it seemed a long way to get to Worth Matravers. Ang said that this was because she had to go in a square around the cliffs to get to the little town. 

The taxi driver’s main work was driving walkers to and fro between the towns and she had a lot of advice. Some of her pointers were:

1. The path is very close to the cliff so if you feel unsafe then climb through the farmer’s barbed wire fence and walk on the farmland. If you get into trouble from the farmer it’s better than falling off the cliff.
2. You might see large cracks. Once again try to avoid walking on them and walk on the farmer’s land.
3. The walk is really, really tough. Some take nine hours to complete it.
4. If you don’t think you can do it then just ring her and she’ll come and pick us up. Sometimes she picks up walkers and they look very different from the beginning!

By the time we got out of the taxi we were extremely daunted. I estimated that if we took nine hours to complete this section then we would be arriving at the hotel restaurant at 7.00pm when we had our dinner booking. 

Ang was right. The walk was tough, especially the last third. The hills were extremely steep and high. We counted to twenty and had to rest, get our breath back then do another twenty steps. Our guidebook stated, “…the statistics hide a couple of hamstring-hammering, calf creaking ascents.” Fortunately, we were rewarded with outstanding views over the coastline.

Being a Saturday there were many walkers on the path. These walkers usually drive to nearby parking areas and walk sections and go to the beaches. There were about forty younger walkers fund raising for mental health and were walking 50kms to Weymouth. Unbelievable! I told them I had Ang’s number if needed! As the day wore on the fitter ones tore ahead and the slower ones kept pace with us. At times the path was very close to the edge with little or no fencing. 

Unfortunately about two hours into the walk Henk went over badly on his ankle on the side of the path. He was in a lot of pain for a few minutes and managed to hobble on it to get it into gear again. I insisted on him immediately taking two strong painkillers which he did and for lunch he took a Voltaren as well. It went well with our hotel-made tasty crab sandwiches. This all seemed to do the trick.

Prior to having lunch at Kimmeridge we passed the 19th century folly, Clavell Tower. This was built by the Rev. John Clavell in 1830. Amazingly, in 2002 it was moved back a further 25m from the cliff, brick by brick to avoid the land slippages. The tower is now let for two people for self-catering holidays and a fellow walker told us it’s expensive. 

Kimmeridge Bay on the Jurassic Coast was dramatic and there were a number of people on the beach looking for fossils. 

The majority of the day was walking on the edge of the Lulworth Military Range which is only open on weekends. So, today being a Saturday we, with everyone else, had access. It was essential to stay on the path between yellow posts. There were dire warnings at the beginning and end of the access.

When we arrived at West Lulworth we went past many beautiful thatched cottages. 

At the hotel we ordered two lemonades and sat outside in the hotel’s garden with views over the little village. We were pleased with our effort today as it was very tough. We had climbed 1300 metres. We did the walk in six hours which we thought was good going given Henk’s ankle which by the end of the walk was going ok. We made it in time for dinner!

Tomorrow is our last day when we arrive in our destination of Poole. For us, the three weeks have gone quickly.