Hiking in Dorset

An amazing thing to do, any season of the year.

This walk starts in Charmouth town of Dorset. Initially, we were planning to head to Lyme Regis but due to the high tide we couldn’t, so we decided to walk to Seatown – 5 miles away by the coast. Once we found out from the locals that there was a pub at the end of this journey, the walk became even more attractive. Having a pint of decent ale always acts as a good motivator.

So off we went, up and down the hills of the Dorset coast, enjoying marvelous views around us and meeting lots of cows on the way. Lots of dogs and children as well. This walk is not flat at all, so a couple of times we had a feeling that we couldn’t do it anymore, but just to turn back would be unbearable. And rewarded we were!
As we were previously told, The Anchor Inn Pub in Seatown looked quite ugly, but was located right on the beach. We were also told that it was under new ownership and the food was excellent. And it was! For such a tired looking place, the menu was surprisingly innovative: Chicken Salad with Grapefruit, the freshest whitebait (UK’s favorite little fish) and amazing, amazing Dorset Gold Ale. Upon our return home, I ended up buying a 12-bottle case of this ale online, from Palmer’s Brewery website, that’s how much I loved it.

We didn’t understand how waiters managed to find who ordered what, but it all worked out perfectly. After lunch, we decided to go back to Charmouth where we left our car, but to take another route instead. The tide was low by that time, so we headed back by coast. walking on the pebbles was quite challenging, so I did regret wearing just sandals instead of walking shoes.

St Gabriel’s Head provided another challenge in the face of huge black rocks. Thank God we were good at jumping on the uneven, wet surface. In reality, walking through the hills and walking by the coast took exactly the same amount of time: about 2 hours.

Back to the car and off to Lyme Regis we went. I can’t wait to do this walk again, even in winter!

written by neja on 2011-11-21 #places #location #escape-from-the-city