Boxing Day walk to Worbarrow

[puddleshark]

Tyneham Church. Probably.

Seen from the viewpoint on Whiteways Hill at sunrise this morning: fog in all directions.

I had thought about climbing Flower's Barrow - my usual Boxing Day walk - but then thought how muddy the paths are on that walk, and decided to follow the chalk track down the valley to Tyneham instead. First, I had to get past a herd of hairy beef cattle who had gathered round the gateway, but luckily an elder bush was willing to let me break off a dead branch to arm myself against their curiosity.


Not much light on the track down to Tyneham, but also not much mud.


The fog making abstracts of my landscape shots.


The ghost village of Tyneham. "The village and 7,500 acres of surrounding heathland and chalk downland around the Purbeck Hills were requisitioned just before Christmas 1943 by the then War Office for use as firing ranges for training troops. 225 people were displaced... This measure was supposed to be temporary for the duration of World War II, but in 1948 the Army placed a compulsory purchase order on the land and it has remained in use for military training ever since. In 1975, after complaints from tourists and locals, the Ministry of Defence began opening the village and footpaths across the ranges at weekends and throughout August." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneham

Through the deserted village (still deserted at that hour. The Range Warden had not yet unlocked the gate on the road leading down to the car park). Onto the stone track that leads down the valley to Worbarrow Bay.




Worbarrow Bay, with the fog beginning to lift.





Took the narrow slippery path through the rushes, down to the little cove on the other side of Worbarrow Tout. A nice sheltered spot to sit on a rock and drink coffee, with the waves washing in very gently, and Cormorants performing vanishing tricks ("Now you see me! Now you don't!") out at sea. Rock Pipits exploring the shingle.










After a little while, I noticed that the "rock" centre bottom of this shot was suspiciously pointy and symmetrical and metallic-looking, and thought "Uh-oh..."

Although the Army have cleared the paths across the Ranges, and the paths themselves are safe, there is still a lot of ordnance lying around the landscape. On my way back through Tyneham village, I went up to the Range Warden who was sitting in his pick-up truck in the car park, to report the object. I wasn't the first person to report it, and it was fine - it wasn't live, it had been there years, and had only shifted recently because of the storms.


Climbing back up the chalk track to Whiteways, through the fog, I could see the first few visitors arriving in Tyneham car park. It gets really busy later. Worbarrow Bay is a favourite Boxing Day walk. When the rest of Dorset is a sea of mud, the track down to Worbarrow stays reasonably dry.


The sun trying to break through the fog...


...not quite succeeding.

Back up on Whiteways Hill, the sky to the north was clearing, and there was a perfect fogbow - an arc of pure white against the pale blue sky. But I couldn't photograph it because I had the zoom lens on the camera. Drat.

Comments

[heleninwales]

It was foggy all morning here. It finally cleared after lunch so I just did a short 45 minute circuit to get a bit of fresh air and sunlight.

Shame about having the wrong lens on the camera. It's one reason I use the Canon M50 when out for walks, but the quality isn't as good as the DSLR.

[puddleshark]

Another grey drizzly day here today. I've been out for a walk around the forest, but didn't even bother taking the camera. There's just no light.

I love my little 50-250mm zoom lens. It's so versatile. I can use it for photographing distant hills or nearby birds. Just not for anything that requires a wide angle. But I'm not going to lug two lenses on my walks.

[nikonf3]

My first thought was it must have been terrible for those villagers to leave their homes. And where did they go? My second thought was they are likely all dead now and have their spirits returned home?

[puddleshark]

It must have been heartbreaking. The villagers were so convinced they would get their homes back, after the war had been won.

My mother used to work with someone who had lived in Tyneham and went to the tiny school there as a child, until he was evacuated in 1943. I think the villagers all settled locally. They would likely have had family in neighbouring villages anyway.

Tyneham doesn't really feel like a haunted village now. More like a museum. There are exhibitions in the restored church and schoolhouse. And the village is a huge tourist attraction on summer weekends when the roads across the Ranges are open to the public.