Day trips from London #7 - Durdle Door and Bournemouth
The day after Glastonbury tour, I set out to my next trip to Durdle Door and Bournemouth. I very much wanted to plan it ourselves however, since there is no train to Durdle Door, we were left with no option but to book with tour operator (My attempts to book a private tour also fell apart and I didn't check the availability of buses😣). It wasn't so bad as it was a small group - ours and one more small group.
We gathered up early at our pickup point and, after 2-3 hrs of drive, reached our first stop.
It was so foggy we could barely see 2 steps ahead and, with no hopes of getting into the water, we left our bags in the van.
Our driver gave us the pick-up time and we walked to the cliff top from the car park. There were two sets of steps, one leading to Durdle Door and other to Man o' War rocks.
Since everyone headed to Durdle Door, we decided to take other direction to Man o' War rocks.
By the time we climbed down, fog was lifted completely and we got the beach to ourselves 👼. However, as we didn't get our beach towels and change of clothes, we had to stay at the shore.
Anyway, it was fun struggling to walk on pebble beach. The water was still quite cold, but the place seemed ideal for a swim without much of the waves - however, there are no life guards. The beach is surrounded by hills with traces of limestone - I guess pebble beaches mostly have limestone.
After sometime, we started back up and, with enough time left, we started exploring further up instead of going to Durdle Door as originally planned (plus it was still crowded). It wasn't a difficult climb, but I stopped in the middle not wanting a relapse of my cramp from the day before, also was not in mood to test my fear of heights. Moreover, I quite liked walking by the path surrounded by hills - it was quite exhilarating, with greenery all around and not a single person in sight (felt like I am the only one there and not in a scary way).
With still more than an hour left of our given pickup time (which was quite surprising as we normally get just enough time), we headed back to parking area to get some lunch.
Our driver was waiting next to our van and told us worriedly that he gave pickup time an hour later by mistake - that explained why we got so much time.
While he was trying to find rest of the tour group, we proceeded to nearby restaurant to get a quick lunch.
Fortunately no one got delayed and we started on time, that was actually an hour later than intended by the tour operator.
Even after the mistaken delay, we got about 2 hours to spend at Bournemouth sand beach. While getting the bags, I realized I didn't leave my towel in van but at home. Two of us set out in search of stores to get towel and swimwear. The other two of our friends didn't want to get in water, so they headed down to the beach in search of coffee.
Almost an hour of searching for the stores and finding the right one, we reached the beach to meet our friends.
Bournemouth got a sandy beach and for the first time, I got to enter the waters of sea in Britain. I spent about an hour making my second, non-successful attempt to swim in sea.
As I came out to the shore, our thoughtful friends got us coffee right on time (bless them!!!) and after changing, we went back to the van. The rest of tour group didn't arrive and, while our driver was fuming with frustration, I spent the time relaxing in nearby bench next to the beautiful mini flower garden.
We finally started back to London and, even though there are few hiccups, it went better than I expected🙂 - wasn't the most memorable one, but simple and relaxed trip.
We gathered up early at our pickup point and, after 2-3 hrs of drive, reached our first stop.
It was so foggy we could barely see 2 steps ahead and, with no hopes of getting into the water, we left our bags in the van.
Our driver gave us the pick-up time and we walked to the cliff top from the car park. There were two sets of steps, one leading to Durdle Door and other to Man o' War rocks.
Since everyone headed to Durdle Door, we decided to take other direction to Man o' War rocks.
By the time we climbed down, fog was lifted completely and we got the beach to ourselves 👼. However, as we didn't get our beach towels and change of clothes, we had to stay at the shore.
Anyway, it was fun struggling to walk on pebble beach. The water was still quite cold, but the place seemed ideal for a swim without much of the waves - however, there are no life guards. The beach is surrounded by hills with traces of limestone - I guess pebble beaches mostly have limestone.
After sometime, we started back up and, with enough time left, we started exploring further up instead of going to Durdle Door as originally planned (plus it was still crowded). It wasn't a difficult climb, but I stopped in the middle not wanting a relapse of my cramp from the day before, also was not in mood to test my fear of heights. Moreover, I quite liked walking by the path surrounded by hills - it was quite exhilarating, with greenery all around and not a single person in sight (felt like I am the only one there and not in a scary way).
While he was trying to find rest of the tour group, we proceeded to nearby restaurant to get a quick lunch.
Fortunately no one got delayed and we started on time, that was actually an hour later than intended by the tour operator.
Even after the mistaken delay, we got about 2 hours to spend at Bournemouth sand beach. While getting the bags, I realized I didn't leave my towel in van but at home. Two of us set out in search of stores to get towel and swimwear. The other two of our friends didn't want to get in water, so they headed down to the beach in search of coffee.
Almost an hour of searching for the stores and finding the right one, we reached the beach to meet our friends.
Bournemouth got a sandy beach and for the first time, I got to enter the waters of sea in Britain. I spent about an hour making my second, non-successful attempt to swim in sea.
As I came out to the shore, our thoughtful friends got us coffee right on time (bless them!!!) and after changing, we went back to the van. The rest of tour group didn't arrive and, while our driver was fuming with frustration, I spent the time relaxing in nearby bench next to the beautiful mini flower garden.
We finally started back to London and, even though there are few hiccups, it went better than I expected🙂 - wasn't the most memorable one, but simple and relaxed trip.
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