June 2017.
I didn't know what chocolate-boxy means before I went to
Swanage. Literally.
Swanage is a cutesy coastal town in the south-east of
Dorset, England. It’s the town that
always played the platform for Enid Blyton’s stories; the town of the Famous Fives;
the town of my childhood imagination. The town and its surrounding places draw
a picture-postcard with its beautiful rugged coastline, mysterious caves,
little playful coves, lush green rolling hills, a charming 11th
century ruined castle, vintage steam engines, relaxed beach shacks and so much
more.
This was my first proper camping holiday. Rolling eyes? Yeah
I know! A late start but better late than never? And oh how I loved it! From
solving the puzzle of which pole goes in which side, which groundsheet fits in
which part of the tent to anchoring down a tent peg for the first time, from
learning what a ‘guy rope’ (funny eh?!) is to zipping up the inner tent, it was
all fun. We had a very cute blue double burner gas stove and a matching blue cylinder
which we parked outside our tent and made coffee and pasta and egg scrambles.
It was almost like playing house in a green field with miniature play-stuff.
Most amazing learning point – Food remains as cool as you can imagine if you
put them under a car even in a very hot sunny weather!
Call us lucky, the weather was just amazing. Clear blue sky,
sun high on its shiny rays, and it was screaming green all around. We did get a
bit scorched in the end but whatever! The walk from our campsite to the main town centre was a
brisk 20 minutes through shady trees and open green fields and pretty lanes
adorned with cute oldie cottages and fragrant flowers.
Soaring high on energy, we set off on our foot, walking to
the Swanage bay, then along the sea side, up on green hilly mound where we
dozed off in peace. After a refreshing nap in the sun, we continued walking
down the rugged hilly coast to a lighthouse. After we pottered around aimlessly
for a bit, the hunt for food started. Our grocery shop for the trip was a mini
supermarket on the road back to the campsite. This is where we got our
provisions for field-cooked pasta and coffee and eggs. All yummy.
The next day, we did a long walk, about 30KM from the
Swanage bay to a place called the Dancing ledge, all along the coast. The walk is
beautiful. It’s green, rocky, hilly and bushy with the blue sea by the side. We
walked up to the light house where we saw an exhibition of moths. As we
continued our walk, we came to the Tilly whim Caves. (All the Enid Blyton fans
must be aware of this!) There was a nice fishing spot on the side of it and we
rested a bit there. Arriving at ‘Dancing ledge’, we discovered a real steep
climb. Dancing ledge is again like a little cove, people been swimming and
snorkelling. Very refreshing in its own do-your-thing or don’t-do-anything way.
Saw some rock climbers on the side of it, thinking of my own rock climbing
session back in Burgess hill which I haven’t been to for a while now.
The long walk to Dancing Ledge and back was exhilarating but
not yet exhaustive enough to pull us down. After a little refresher back in the
campsite, we drove off in search of Ammonites and Ancient rocks. Kimmeridge Bay
presented itself with a rich collection of ammonite fossils and shale rocks. It’s
just amazing how soft those shale rocks are and how beautiful the fossils look
like. Apparently, you can extract oil from these shale rocks, though it’s
banned now in that Bay. Our next stop was the Lulworth Cove and this is where I
learnt the word ‘chocolate-boxy’, both in the literal and visual sense of it. Our
final stop was Durdle door, the much heard about place in the recent days. Undoubtedly,
it is amazing. The arch of ancient Portland rocks and formation of the cove is,
no surprise, a geological wonder. Interesting but less known fact – There is an
isolated rock on the side of the coast near Durdle door called the ‘butter rock’.
Ah this one is for my love of butter!
We ended our long exciting day with a mouthful of fish and
chips at a cosy beach shack and headed back for some field-sleep.
As our final day arrived, we sniffed around the vintage
history of Corfe castle, the steam railways and a short boat trip to the Old
Harry’s rocks, watching migratory birds and listening to the old folk story of
pirate Harry after whom the rock has been named.
This place is just perfect. Its’ lazy, laid back air has so
much energy and charm in it. Nature is in its full bloom. Walk along the rugged
coast, climb those low hanging rocky walls, swim in the cove, maybe a bit of
wind surfing or go snorkeling by the sea mosses and fishes, go diving from the
old wrecks (yes there were old ship wrecks you can visit), grab those crabs by
the harbour (many kids busy with their crab nets), do a bit of kite flying (an
old couple let me fly their kites) or just doze off in the sun (the best warm
nap I got). This is a place where you can do everything and you can do nothing!
P.S: I noticed I have used the word ‘amazing’ a tad too many
times. Huh Vocabulary alert! J
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