Wild Things Publishing Wild Swimming Walks - Dorset and East Devon leads you on 28 adventures into the magical and ancient landscape of Dorset and East Devon. Follow an enchanting journey from the undercliffs and caves of the Jurassic coast to the lush meadows and vales of Dorset. Packed with all the practical information you need. Join the adventure with the best-selling Wild Swimming Walks series and explore Dorset and East Devon’s spectacular coasts, cliffs, islands, grottoes and river meadows.
Features:
Swim through iconic Durdle Door
Explore the mysterious undercliffs of the Jurassic coast
Dive into gin-clear waters off Portland
Swim around the famous Ladram sea stacks
Venture into the ancient holloways of West Dorset
Combining stunning photography, engaging stories and history, this is the perfect guide for walkers and swimmers. There are detailed directions, maps, and downloadable route information to print out or take with you on your phone or tablet.
Matt Newbury is an author and events manager. His swimming challenges include escaping from Alcatraz and swimming to the Isle of Wight. Sophie Pierce is a writer and broadcaster who is never happier than when in the water, though she seems to have an uncanny ability to attract seals and jellyfish. They are the authors of Wild Swimming Walks Cornwall and Wild Swimming Walks Dartmoor and South Devon.
Contents:
Exe Estuary Adventure
Ladram Sea Stacks Circular
Ottery St Mary Circular
Devon Combes Double
Beer, Pounds Pool, Hooken and Branscombe Circular
Colyton and Whitford Circular
Uplyme and Lyme Regis Circular
Golden Cap and Seatown Circular
Hell Lane and Eype Mouth Circular
Burton, Cogden and Freshwater Figure of Eight
Abbotsbury and Chesil Beach Circular
Maiden Newton Circular
Isle of Portland Circular
Weymouth Wander
Ringstead Bay and Osmington Mills Circular
Woodsford Circular
Sturminster Newton Circular
Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door Circular
Hod Hill Circular
Worbarrow Bay and Kimmeridge Figure of Eight
Wareham Rivers Double
Shapwick and White Mill Circular
Corfe Castle and Green Pool
Arne Peninsula Circular
Dancing Ledge, Seacombe, Winspit and Chapman’s Pool Circular
Brownsea Island Circular
Studland Circular
The Throop Loop
Introduction:
“The county of Dorset is small, but is yet so varied in its configuration as to present an epitome of the scenery of Southern England. It is a land of moods and changes that knows no monotony…”
Sir Frederick Treves, Highways and Byways in Dorset, 1906
Dorset and East Devon are amongst the most unspoilt and lovely places in England, with a great variety of distinctive landscapes, from heathland in the east, chalk downland in the middle, to limestone and sandstone hills in the west. The coastline is spectacular, containing monumental rock formations. Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, and the red sea stacks at Ladram Bay are famous for their distinctive shapes. Then there are the terracotta cliffs of East Devon, and the white chalk cliffs at Beer. Heading east, these are succeeded by a whole series of different coastal forms, from the mudstone at Lyme Regis, to the yellow hued sandstone of Burton Bradstock, and then the famous Portland stone stretching along the Purbeck coast, with many its caves, quarries and ledges offering possibilities to the adventurous swimmer.
The diversity of these coastal environments is due to the varied geology of this part of the world. The shoreland between Exmouth and Studland is an area known internationally as the Jurassic Coast. In 2001 it was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site because of the global significance of its rocks, fossils and landforms. Effectively, this whole coastline is like a sort of Bayeux Tapestry displaying, in sequence, a particular period of time in our geological history.