In which: I make but little progress ● October’s end is revisited ● a view never to be seen again
Date: 12 April 2021 Time of walk: 1540 to 1655 Today’s walking: 5.9 km Progress along SWCP: 1.7 km Estimated ascent: 240 metres
With the Covid pandemic easing, in the UK at least, from 12 April 2021 we were allowed to stay away from home in self-catering accommodation. I’d booked the week off work some months ago, partly to use up some of my 2020 leave, and although initially intending simply to make some day-trips, at short notice I decided to see if I could find any self-catering at a sensible price, and found a place on the edge of Bridport in Dorset, nicely located for a bit more walking on the South West Coast Path.
So, on the day of arrival, after settling in at my new place, I drove the few miles to the National Trust’s Langdon Hill car park for a late afternoon walk. The plan was primarily to link Golden Cap, where I’d reached in October last year, and Seatown, nearby to the east, but I extended the walk a little to make it more worthwhile, though still only making about a mile’s progress along the SWCP.
So I started with most of a circuit of Langdon Hill on this fairly level path through the woods.As I neared the south-west corner of the woods, I saw my primary objective, Golden Cap – this was the easternmost point I reached during last October’s walkingGolden Cap is the highest point on the south coast of England. Here we look east past Seatown to the cliffs beyond – never to be seen quite like this again, for in only a few hours there will be a major cliff-fall, said to be the largest in Dorset for sixty years. In the far distance can be seen the island of Portland, with the gap between Portland and the mainland, Ferrybridge, being my objective in the next two and a bit days.A look back to Langdon Hill which I will have completed a circuit of by the end of this afternoon.West from the summit of Golden CapHaving descended the hill into Seatown, a look back to the ridge of Golden CapIn the other direction, those cliffs which, unknown to us all, will crash into the sea overnight. It’s not impossible this is the last photo ever taken of the cliffs in this state. I returned by a different route up the hill to the orbital path around Langdon Hill and completed the circuit.
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