The Tallbirds on tour: The most beautiful place in the world?

Saturday 7th June 2014

George's World Tour South of Stoke - Day 7

We were surprised to find when we woke up that not only was there no moat of apocalyptic fire and brimstone surrounding George, but that it hadn't even rained overnight. The heavens did decide to open for about 20 minutes, just as I wanted to come back from the shower block, but within about an hour the skies were blue and the sun was back out.
We managed to get our laundry done while the weather was sorting itself out, and before too long we were back on the road, heading for the South West coast.

We had to stop off at Sainsbury's and this time managed to purchase some beer with a slightly higher alcohol content of 4%, along with far more food than I thought we'd be able to fit in George. But as usual we were surprised by the amount of space in his cupboards.
We stopped off for lunch by the sea near Poole before the final part of our journey today to Lulworth Cove. We were slightly alarmed at the warnings of gunfire and tanks crossing but made it through unscathed.

The car park at Lulworth Cove was expensive and busy and we didn't stop there. I didn't really want to share the cove with anyone else (except Claire) and thought we might be better going there in the evening or early morning when everyone else is busy doing something else.
So we decided to drive a couple of miles along the coast to see on the off chance if the campsite marked on the map near Durdle Door had pitches available that we could afford.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that not only was the campsite fairly quiet, but that it was also affordable (by South Coast standards), and then the lady on reception gave us a 20% discount! After we'd paid she explained where the various camp site facilities are and then with a slightly dreamy look in her eye, told us when we'd pitched up to just follow the track down to the most beautiful place in the world. I decided that asking her if she'd ever been to Scotland might have spoiled her moment, so we thanked her and headed off to get George settled in.

We parked up in a little woodland area, which in hindsight turned out to be a mistake as there were some rooks roosting in the trees which have covered George's little porch canopy in poo.
We had a BBQ dinner and made some more BBQ muffins, which were better than the cupcakes but only slightly less burnt than the first batch of muffins. I think we need more practice.

After dinner we walked down the track to Durdle Door, which is a very picturesque sea arch at the end of a little shingle beach, just along the coast from Lulworth Cove. By this time it was close to sunset and there were only a handful of people on the beach. We spent quite a while taking photos, but were still a bit peeved at having to share the beach with anyone else.

So we decided to head back up to George and get some sleep so we could be up early to be on the beach for sunrise. Crazy I know. I managed to avoid actually saying the words "the alarm's set for 4.10am" to Claire, but I think she knew it was going to be the earliest get up she'd done in memory.
I'm actually writing this after breakfast after the early start. By some miracle I managed to get up without pressing snooze, and then managed to order Claire out of bed with only the minimum of fuss, and by 4.40am we were on the beach with some well done muffins and a flask of coffee. And no one else! There were a couple of fishermen who'd obviously been there all night (as we saw them last night), but they left as soon as we arrived.

We spent over an hour taking more photos and making the most of our sole occupancy, and when we finally walked back up to George at 6am, we still had the place to ourselves.

Before I sign off and head for the beach, I should probably answer the burning question I implied earlier... is Durdle Door the most beautiful place in the world or not?
Well, no, it's not in my opinion, but it comes close. Come and see for yourself if you want to make your own mind up.