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Published: April 10th 2023
Durdle door and Bournemouth in winter
-Piprey on wheels
The
English Dorset coast is cold all the year around. English beaches are charming in summers. My cousin was leaving UK. We made a day trip to see
Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove and
Bournemouth beach. It was a
different beauty in winter.
It was
26th March, the last Sunday of March. The
clocks were changing by one hour. I hardly caught a wink and was up in the dark at 4 am.
The
local bus seems to be running in a dark tunnel of rain. Indeed, when I waited at the bus stop,
a red, double decker bus splashed water and my sneakers were all wet. The water was cold.
At Southall, there were 3 Asian holiday makers waiting at the bus stop. The
Star tours coach was 40 mins late. It was excellent choice of
Bollywood music to make the journey very pleasant.
It was about
2- 2.30 hours coach journey from London to
Durdle Door/Lulworth cove. My cousin had picked the seats next to the emergency door at the back, with extra leg space!
We drank hot coffee and biscuits like royals. Before we
knew, we were at Lulworth cove.
It was light but big clouds loomed in the sky. We walked wrapped in our coats, woolen camps and gloves - like
eskimos going for a morning stroll. We started the uphill walk,
some yellow heath flowers and plenty of muddy, slippery paths. We climbed down towards the direction of Durdle door arch which was a steep climb down.
Durdle door is a limestone arch formed by water erosion. It resembled a dragon with its head deep in the water, drinking water.
My cousin attended her online singing lesson while she walked by the beach.
Beautiful, smooth, round, small pebbles formed the narrow beach.
Not a single person was swimming. It was a slightly easier walk uphill as we could balance better on the slippery slope. Climbing down was tough
because it was muddy with pools of water and slippery. Again, down the hill over the other side to reach the mini coach.
We walked to the opposite direction to visit
Lulworth cove,
eat a real ice cream cone, some homemade sandwiches (called
railway sandwich made of coleslaw, grated cheese, sweet corn and carrots).
Invariably, it started to drizzle. My Indian made strong black umbrella was damaged by the wind. We were more
than pleased to be
back in the coach.
We
enjoyed some hot tea and in 40 mins, reached
Bournemouth beach. A small group of people were learning to surf. A young man did a zip drop on the pier. We shared a
Cornish pastry.
We visited the
Bournemouth Oceanarium.
Impressive collection of marine fishes, small sharks, large turtles, small penguins, corals, otters, iguana and other delightful creatures. The sting ray on the tunnel seemed to grin at me.
The
piranhas were massive fishes. Apparently, some of them were vegetarian.
It was time to eat
fish and chips, a ginger lemon tea and a piece of
coffee cake. Even in off season, it was full. We took a table outside, overlooking the sea. We walked up to the garden and were surprised to see a
small round bird park filled with
beautiful exotic birds.
There were parrots, java sparrow, lovebirds, budgerigars, pheasants, quails, macaws, cockatiels and so many wonderful and bright birds. They were flying about in the huge enclosure. Have you ever seen a blue parrot, an exact copy of a green parrot? Incredible.
We were back in the bus and reached London in 2.10 hours.
With soothing music, it was sleeping time. The Oceanarium was well kept with plenty of fishes and marine life with
discounts for locals! There were
different shades of blue of the Bournemouth beach unlike the same cornflower, typical of beaches which was unique.
I learnt that when we travel with different people, we gain a new perspective because they have different interests.
Dorset coast survived millions of years.
Nothing changes so
unexpectedly
except English weather 😊
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
What an awesome photo
The clouds make it foreboding. Very nice.