Rambling in the rain

Bank holiday came and went. S decided we needed to take up the quintessentially British activity of rambling. We decided to explore the Jurassic coastline in Dorset. Rambling, otherwise known as walking, has its roots set as far back as the 19th century when people migrated to the countryside for rest and recreation. Over the years various associations were set up for the protection of ancient footpaths and open spaces, many of which ran through privately owned land. Predictably, this led to arguments between the landowners and the ramblers.

The most recent spat occurred when the singer Madonna challenged the rights of ramblers to walk across her multi million pound country estate.

The morning was not too sunny, ideal weather for a 5- mile walk, or so I thought. We packed all our essentials, cling film wrapped chutney sandwiches, mackintoshes etc now all we needed was a spell of good weather. The drive was gorgeous, the English countryside in summer is truly picturesque. Bluebells and yellow carpets of rapeseed farms.

The journey to the coastline took us about 2 hours, and by the time we reached, the weather had forsaken us. I was more than happy to drive about, browse through the local shops and head back but S was not having any of that. So we gobbled down cold chutney sandwiches, then got our macks and headed off.

The walk we chose was rated as moderately difficult. I think the constant drizzling rain made it a little more treacherous thanks to slushy hillsides. We trudged along fields heading towards the coastline, greeted along the way by several grazing cows, sheep and fellow ramblers in no particular order.

When we finally reached the sea, the view was spectacular. This coastline has been designated a world heritage site. It is 185 million years old and is made up of a series of limestone cliffs of various sizes shaped over millions of years by erosion. At the end of the walk I was wet, I had the wrong shoes on, they were caked in cow dung and I could feel muscles I never knew existed.
What made it worthwhile was this backdrop.


I think I've been bitten by the rambling bug ;)