4th September 2021
I love the Jurassic coast and in my opinion this is the toughest of the Mighty Hikes. There are some stupendously big ascents and descents on this hike – mostly all in the first half, but there are some long steep slogs in the second half too. I was lucky enough to begin the hike with Rich Grieve who completed the entire hike at a blistering pace while dressed in an inflatable dinosaur costume! I decided after about 5 miles that the pace was too fast for me and dropped back to a more comfortable speed.
The first half of the hike from Weymouth out through Bowleaze Cove, Osmington Mills, Scratchy Bottom(!), Durdle Door to Lulworth is just the most spectacular coastline I have had the pleasure to hike along (and I have done it several times).
A bonus in this year’s hike (in my opinion) was that the part of the hike along Lulworth beach and up those horrendous seemingly never ending steps had been taken out at the last minute due to concerns with Covid and large crowds of hikers getting into the bottleneck queues inevitably caused by the steps.
The distance was made up via a long loop around Lulworth before rejoining the route heading inland out of the town. It is odd in that the climb up through the fields out of Lulworth always causes me to get thigh cramps – it doesn’t happen anywhere else and I need to take some saltstick tablets to provide fast relief! Very peculiar!
From Lulworth you head inland and there is a fair bit of road walking to be done. Eventually you climb up onto the hills leading to Corfe Castle and the finish. Don’t be expecting to see the castle from a long way off. In this direction you don’t see it until you descend down into the town.
I really love this hike and will certainly be doing it again at some point. It won’t be in 2022 though as I am doing the Jurassic Coast Ultra instead – 100km (62 miles) from Corfe Castle to Bridport taking in the massive Arish Mel!
