Seacombe Ledges

[puddleshark]

Not quite as grey a day as had been forecast. The wind in the south, but cold.


Set off from Acton, a village of small stone cottages, once the homes of quarryworkers.


Onto the Priest's Way, an ancient stone track (used in medieval times by the priest of Worth Matravers on his journey to the chapel of ease in Swanage).

A landscape of sheep and cattle pasture, dry stone walls, quarries. But, unlike north Dorset, where I regularly get chased by herds of skittish young cattle, the beef cattle in the fields here are all in family groups, and the calves take their cue from the sensible older cows, completely ignoring walkers.


Mama cow giving her calf's face and neck a good lick clean.


A quick stop-off along the way to see the dinosaur footprints in Keates Quarry. (Small pocket thermos flask for scale!) "The tracks date back to 140 million years ago when this area was covered in tropical forests and swamps. The footprints were probably made by giant sauropods such as Brachiosaurus." https://dorset-nl.org.uk/location/spyway/



From Eastington, where the National Trust has recently built some splendid new dry stone walls, onto the track that winds down the valley to Seacombe.


On the valley floor, a tiny stream, one pace wide - you have to step over it a couple of times on the journey. For luck. In summer the water vanishes, magically transformed into a stream of water mint and butterflies.


The cattle are still out grazing in the sheltered combes, and the combe bottoms are muddy. But there's stone under the mud on the path down to Seacombe Quarry. The going is a bit slippery in places, but you're not wading through deep mud.


Disused quarry at Seacombe. The caves are fenced off these days, with lots of warning signs to keep out due to the danger of rockfalls.




View westwards from Seacombe Quarry.


The quarry ledges, where once stone would have been loaded onto ships.

Normally on my visits to Seacombe, I scramble down the gully onto the ledges to sit and watch the sea for a while, but...


...the ledges were mostly underwater today.

So I sat on a rock further up the gully, watching the waves breaking.

Gulls crying. The south wind funnelling through the gully, cold with seaspray. Drank coffee from the thermos - a tiny cup of hot, black coffee has such powers to drive away the damp and chill. And certainly tastes no worse for a pinch of sea salt in the air. (There was a huge manufactured controversy in the British newspapers this week, after an American scientist dared to make a suggestion about tea, to the effect that a tiny pinch of salt causes a chemical reaction that can take away the bitter taste of overstewed tea. It seems quite a reasonable theory to me, one that can easily be tested by experiment, but the American Embassy had to step in to avert a diplomatic incident....)



Then it was the long climb back up to Eastington and the Priest's Way, with the wind at my back.


Above the headland, a pair of buzzards circling, calling to each other. From hillside scrub along the way, families of speckled pipits taking flight.

Comments

[heleninwales]

We did our first proper walk together of the year today. The weather wasn't bad at all, though everything was a bit grey.

[puddleshark]

The past few days have really not been bad for walking. There's been a hint that January is relenting a bit..

[bleodswean]

What's the average distance you walk on these treks?

[puddleshark]

I don't cover a huge distance - I like to stop and admire the view, take photos, drink coffee.

I've never really measured my walks, but I'd guess it's usually something between two and five miles (unless I get lost...)

[stormehowl]

So, so lovely!

[puddleshark]

It is such a lovely walk, even during a muddy winter!