South West Sea Kayaking

Another section draughted, from Kimmeridge to Lulworth. This wasn’t too onerous, as I have been basically rewriting an article I wrote about this coast last year.

The photo shows Heather paddling through Bat Hole, a natural tunnel through the monolithic buttress cliff of Bat Head. The cliffs above featured in John Schlesinger’s 1967 film of Far from the Madding Crowd. Remember the opening scene when Gabriel Oak’s dog drives his herd of sheep over the edge? That was here. The film also featured Julie Christie. She is quite nice.

Trevose Head lighthouse is perched atop 50 metre cliffs, overlooking the dubiously named ‘Stinking Cove’. Out to sea some impressive rocks point skywards above the constant swell; the Bull and the Quies. The lighthouse commands a wide view up and down the Bristol Channel, and when first built was the only light to guide ships between Land’s End and Lundy. The photos here were taken last year whilst surfing in the area.

Ten years ago, I paddled past Trevose Head. I had lived on the south coast for several years and it bothered me that I didn’t know anything at all about the part of the Britain I now lived in, let alone about the sea itself. I bought a secondhand sea kayak and launched from Southbourne Beach (in front of the flat I then lived in). Nineteen days later I finished my trip at Woolacombe Beach in North Devon, having paddled nearly 400 miles around the south west peninsula. I’m not too sure how I survived the trip, but that’s another story. I was hooked on the sea and I was hooked on the south west.

As time marches on, I can recall less and less of the coast which made that such a brilliant trip. For instance, I cannot remember a single thing at all about paddling past Trevose Head. I have no memory of it all. This bothers me. A lot.

I’d better get back there soon.