The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

The Southwest Coast Path: Sandbanks to Lulworth Cove

The most recent section of the Southwest Coast Path (SWCP) I had completed, in September 2023, encompassed the western half of Dorset, from Lyme Regis to Lulworth Cove. At the time the Lulworth Ranges were closed, so my trekking ended there. Last month I returned, joining a friend from California, to complete the eastern Dorset section of the route in four days, traditionally the end of this 1014 km* long distance path. A couple of train changes got me in less than 5 hours from Hastings to Poole, where the afternoon before I met Allison, who had just arrived from California.

* – alert readers may have noted that in the last post I used strictly metric distances. I will continue to employ the system that 90% of the world uses for good reason. One kilometer is roughly 0.62 mile and one meter about 3.3 feet.

In point of fact, the SWCP actually begins/ends at Shell Bay, at the terminus of a short ferry from Sandbanks in Poole. We were doing this section “in reverse” of the usual direction.

Allison on the Sandbanks ferry, all of a five minute trip.

Day 1: Shell Bay to Swanage

13 km, 220 m elevation gain

With Allison at the start/end of the SWCP
Shell Bay, a sandy slog to start!
Old Harry Rocks. Can you spot the natural window?
Tiny Persian Speedwell (Veronica persica)
View towards Swanage, where our first night’s accommodation lay.
Wall Bellflower in Swanage
Purbeck House Hotel balcony view, Swanage

Day 2: Swanage to Kingston

20 km, 760 m elevation gain

Roman columns at the Swanage amphitheater, an outdoor music and theater venue
Durlston Castle, Durlston Country Park. A lovely section of wooded paths began near this interesting Victorian-era building.
Allison and Anvil Point Lighthouse
Chalk Milk-wort
An Early Spider Orchid. We might have missed these little fellas if some avid botanizers had not pointed them out to us.
A field of rape (rapeseed oil is called canola oil in the Americas).
The Vagabond Hiker
Coastal vista, emphasizing some steep climbs
Admiring the view. . . and resting my knees!
Hill Bottom Plantation. We turned inland at Chapman’s Pool towards our accommodation in Kingston.

Day 3: Kingston circular via SWCP and Hardy Way

18 km, 600 m elevation gain

Limited lodging gave us an opportunity to stay two nights in Kingston and also do some inland walking.

Twins. It was lambing season and most of the Ewes seemed to have two lambs.
Chapman’s Pool, where we had left off the SWCP the day prior
Houns-Tout Cliff view. I have to love some of the place names!
Clavell Tower, a 19th century folly
Kimmeridge Bay, seen from the Hardy Way. The next morning we (read: Allison) arranged a taxi down to where we left the SWCP.
View from Swyre Head. Perhaps this flat block was used as a triangulation point. Any other ideas?

Day 4: Kimmeridge Bay to Lulworth Cove

13 km, 635 m elevation gain

Broad Bench, Lulworth Ranges. We would be walking most of the day through the ranges, run by the MoD and closed much of the time. They were open for more than two weeks at Easter, however.
Wild cabbage and Tyneham Cap
Worbarrow Tout & Gad Cliff (background). Despite all the clouds, the rain for the most part left us alone.
Allison climbing up Rings Hill
View towards Bindon Hill. We would remain in the Lulworth Ranges until Lulworth Cove.
View looking back along the coast, with Bindon Hill the obvious high point. We did three steep climbs this day, which proved the hardest for me despite the shorter distance. Allison’s in the middle ground near some signage.
Mupe Bay with its eponymous cliffs looming in the near ground
Looking back at Mupe Bay Beach Cliffs with some prolific gorse
Lulworth Cove pano. It was still a walk around to the cove village and then inland for 2 km to our West Lulworth hotel. I just got tired of taking photos!

The weather was great and the days’ walks were amazing. Hiking with a friend who has a similar pace and who I had not seen in more than a year was a huge bonus. Just to be clear, while I walked for 4 days and then returned to Hastings, for Allison this was the beginning of a 66 day trek to complete the entirety of the Southwest Coast Path in one go. I, in contrast, will soon be on the 8th year of what be will be at least a 10 year plan, beginning in Westward Ho! Devon in late May 2018. Stay tuned for my future (shortish) endeavors to complete this project.

I am currently in Hastings, supposedly training for a two-week trek in Peru later this month. I have some walks from a last minute surprise trip to share with you before that expedition. Until then,

Get your daily dose of nature wherever you may be!

The Vagabond Hiker

Malta redux

Seven years ago (though it doesn’t seem nearly so long) I published three blogs on hiking the country of Malta. The first, on the Island of Malta, was necessarily short as I stayed only one week and spent much of the time investigating the numerous architectural ruins (not surprising as I was traveling with my brother, Mark, and his wife, both architects!) Returning to Malta for 21/2 weeks last month gave me an opportunity for a deeper dive into some of the trails in the more rural, northern end of the island.

After a wet winter, this past March Malta was far greener than I recalled, boasting many more wildflowers, photos of which were noticeably absent from my 2018 post. Let’s start with a geography refresher. . .

A map of the country of Malta, situated about 80 km south of Sicily, reproduced from my 2018 blog post

The trailhead for most of the hikes was the door of my apartment in Mellieħa, a ridge-top town in northern Malta. All except one hike were variations on a theme. . . the theme being the Mellieħa peninsula. The final hike out my door was a loop to the south, out to Il-Majjistral Park on the west coast. (Foolishly, I failed to extend the hike to include Xemxija’s Old Roman Road Heritage Trail).

Balcony view east from my top floor Mellieħa apartment.
A farmer with Il-Palazz in the background.
Tree mallow (Malva arborea), many of which were a meter or more tall
The ruins of Ras il-Griebeg, along the northern coast of the Mellieħa peninsula
Field gladiolus (Gladiolus italicus)
The coast near Imġiebaħ Beach
The town of Mellieħa. My apartment is denoted by the arrow on the left.
Il-Palazz, sadly closed for renovation
A morning view east, on the descent to a coastal loop walk.
Statue of St Paul, to the east of the peninsula.
A rural road on the peninsula. These roads weren’t so bad to walk as the traffic was somewhere between light and non-existent.
A field and coast view along a path north of my apartment
Imġiebaħ valley
Azure stonecrop (Sedum caeruleum), native to Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily, according to Wiki; and apparently Malta.
Giant Fennel (Ferula communis). Though not one of my faves, I had to be impressed with these burly guys
A gorgeous flower of the caper bush (Capparis spinosa)
A rural road/path to my south, heading towards Il-Majjistral Nature & History Park
Italian Bugloss (Anchusa azurea). The hike to Il-Majjistral was fantastic for botanizing
Branched Asphodel (Asphodelus ramosus)
Vista north from Il-Majjistral. The cliffs south of Dwejra Bay on Gozo are in the distance.
Scarlet pimpernel (Lysimachia arvensis), blue form. A gorgeous macro of a scarlet pimpernel, taken by Clifford, was the only wildflower in my three blogs from 2018.
Rock Cut Observation Post, Il-Majjistral
View from the Rock Cut Observation Post. The white blobs are small islets far below
A Brown garden snail. They commonly emerge during wet weather in winter on Malta. Indeed, there were several days of some rain showers while I was there.
Castor oil plant (Ricinus communis), which is extremely allergenic. Castor beans contain ricin and are highly toxic.

A half-hour bus journey south from my apartment brought me to the town of Mġarr, which was the starting point for a loop hike to Fomm ir-Riħ on the west coast.

Castello Zamittello, immediately to the west of Mġarr
The Windrose Giant Cat Weathervane, Fomm ir-Riħ
Fomm ir-Riħ bay and headland

Another hike requiring a short bus journey was to the L-Aħrax peninsula, at the northern end of Malta Island. It is located to the east of the Red Fort and Ras il-Qammieħ, where I hiked with Mark in 2018. Despite some paved roads as well as a couple of new resorts under construction (yuck!), there were still a few nice rural and coastal spots on this hike.

Coast view towards Gozo
It-Torri l-Abjad. The path near here disappeared into sharp talus for several hundred meters before resuming.
A rural road/path on the southern portion of the L-Aħrax Peninsula. Some prickly pear cacti were almost as large as the shrubby trees.
A field of crown daisies and poppies.

Altogether I identified about 22 wildflowers blooming in March. I thought that was a reasonably good tally, until I discovered the Malta Wild Plants website, a 20-year effort by Stephen Mifsud. It will be a great resource if I ever return, or if any of you, my dear readers, visit Malta.

Currently, I am in England enjoying a warm and generally sunny April in Hastings, East Sussex. My next blog post will be of the South West Coast Path. Last week I completed the last few days of the Dorset section with a friend from California.

Stay tuned and enjoy the spring weather and wildflowers,

The Vagabond Hiker

Return to Lanzarote

First, I apologize for leading my loyal readers to believe that my next post would be on trekking in Oman. However, on reviewing my photos from 6 weeks this past January and February wintering on Lanzarote in the Islas Canarias, it became apparent that some were not all that bad. Furthermore, unlike my two previous Lanzarote posts, in December 2018 and 2019, I was able to spot (and identify) a number of plants and wildflowers, a couple of which are endemic to the Canary Islands. Enjoy!

From my base in Puerto del Carmen (PDC) to Puerto Calero and onward to Playa Quemada there is a fantastic coastal path that I walked numerous times. Here is a view of the promenade in PDC, with cat
Puerto Calero from the coastal path. A great hike and very convenient, considering that for most of the time I did not have a car.
View along the coastal path near Playa Quemada. Can you spot the two fishers?
Low tide along the coastal path adds a spot of color
Puerto Calero harbor. Every time I walked by here, the sailing boats reminded me of my dad.
With a rental car, I did a loop hike up Hacha Grande from the inland village of Femes. Here is a view up the Hacha Grande ascent route. Despite the ominous appearance, the rains stayed mostly at sea this day.
Echium pitardii on Hacha Grande. I’m aware of no common name for this plant in the borage family, endemic to the Canary Islands.
Tree of Baroda (Kleinia neriifolia), also endemic to the Canary Islands
In contrast, this erect prickly pear (Opuntia stricta) is considered an invasive in much of the world, including here. Fortunately, they’re not about to take over Lanzarote. The irrigation hose is not watering the cactus, however!
Hacha Grande summit vista northwest. Clouds add tremendously to landscape photos!
Hacha Grande summit vista towards Playa Blanca, on the southern tip of the island.
Along the Ruta Litoral in Parque Timanfaya on the west coast, another day hike facilitated by a rental car
A Balsam spurge (Euphorbia balsamifera) along the Ruta Litoral. Not much has established itself since the multitude of eruptions in the 1730’s covered this part of the island with lava.
A natural arch along the Ruta Litoral in Parque Timanfaya
Monte de la Pena de Santa Catalina summit view north. A great exercise hike, but I took only a handful of photos that day.
One of the most popular hikes, even during the week, is Caldera Blanca. I did a loop hike that started at this trailhead. Note the Unimog 500 Overlander expedition vehicle. There is an interesting article in Motortrend on a Unimog camper conversion for any gearheads reading this post.
Caldera Blanca summit loop hike trailhead landscape with scoria. Though admittedly redundant with the prior photo, I do like the strong horizontals here. One is advised to stay on the paths in this terrain!
Wavy heliotrope (Heliotropium ramosissimum)
A more robust Echium pitardii, flowering on Caldera Blanca
Caldera Blanca summit pano
False sow-thistle (Reichardia tingitana)
Bladder dock (Rumex vesicarius)

And finally, a couple of photos from my balcony. . .

A Eurasian collared dove. She visited me on my balcony most afternoons, once even deciding to briefly enter my apartment. To me she looks virtually identical to an African collared dove (seen occasionally on Lanzarote), but can easily be distinguished by her voice.
Balcony sunset view, enhanced further with a sundowner in hand!

I promise that my Oman Trekking post is in the not-too-distant future.

The Vagabond Hiker

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