A Durdle Door, Some Old Hairy Rocks, & a lot of Roundabouts

It was a short drive down to the coast, albeit a bit harrowing with the narrow roads, and driving a manual from the right side of the vehicle. Our first stop was Lulworth Cove, which you see here. I had mistakenly driven beyond the car park down a very narrow street that led to the cove, where there was no parking. My only option was to reverse all the way back up. The real sights were not the cove itself, but a natural arch on the other side of a large hill (known as Durdle Door). Someone at the visitor's center said we could hike over it in about 45 mins, but it wasn't hugely appealing.

We were able to drive the car somewhat nearby on the other side, we walked through a caravan park and down a steep gravel trail to where we could see the arch and some white chalky cliffs. I had always wanted to see these mythical white cliffs. It's not exactly Dover, but Nicole was able to find a spot where we could actually see them quite well. You see, it can be hard to see the white cliffs if you're standing on them. The area was very scenic, and the water looked almost tropical. We spent a good amount of time at the bottom at the beach, but unfortunately we had to climb back up to the top.

From there we continued on to a place called Old Harry Rocks. I don't know or why it got this name. Also saying it over and over again makes it more ridiculous. Ah yes, I'm looking for old hairy rocks! So what are they exactly? Just some more chalky white rock formations rising up from the water. The old hairy rocks were not as popular as the arch from the previous picture and they also required a fair amount of walking to get to. I decided to just wear a sweater on my way out, but as we got close to the shore, it seemed like the temperature dropped 20 degrees.

After we returned to the car park from the old hairy rocks, we decided to eat at the pub that was there because . . . well, it was there. I had fish and chips. We were able to enjoy a nice lunch while overlooking the coastline and some sheep. Then we began the long journey back in the direction of London. We wouldn't be staying in London, but rather the village of Shere in the Surrey hills south of London. This was going going to be a three hour drive or so. I don't think I've ever driven around so many roundabouts in my life.

It seemed that they were every 1/2 mile or so and that's not an exaggeration. It made for some stressful driving for someone not used to driving manual or from the right seat or around roundabouts. Miraculously we made it through an estimated 57 roundabouts with only stalling the car once. After a few more narrow, winding roads and an adequate number of roundabouts, we arrived in Shere. We are staying just across the street from a pub, so we didn't have to go far. I had a steak and ale pie. The pub also stars in the movie, The Holiday. As it was nighttime, and they don't believe in streetlights around here, we felt it best to walk around town in the morning when it's safer.