Durdle Door has been a common excursion for Bradley and I over the past year and therefore I felt it deserved a post of its own. When Brad moved from the mountainous North to the comparatively dull South of England at the beginning of 2017 he found a lack of photographic inspiration. The South coast, despite being a couple of hours drive away, provided some beauty for him and his camera to focus on. Therefore we found ourselves at this particular location multiple times.
Location
Durdle Door can be found protruding out from the coast near West Lulworth, sort of on the way to Weymouth. Once arriving at Durdle Door the parking is quite easy. During the day there will be attendants pointing you towards a grass car park and at night you can simply park on the road before the entrance (or at least we did). You have to walk down a relatively steep pathway to reach Durdle Door from the car park. The walk down is OK, but the walk up can be, well.. tiring to say the least. I think my actual words were ‘Brad help my lungs are going to explode’ but you can obviously take this as fast or slow as you like and its fair to say my fitness levels are not brilliant.
When to visit?
Summer is absolutely the best time to visit, day or night. During the day if you’ve picked an unusual British sunny weekend then you will be in for a treat. After walking down to gaze up at the Door you can make your way down to the left side of the stairs onto another beach. This beach is hidden in a cove making it perfect for a paddle! The water is very shallow for a while but does get deeper if you want a swim. Be careful of the rather pebbly beach on your backsides though! Might be a good idea to bring extra padding if you plan on having a lie down.
If, like Brad, you want to visit for photographic purposes Summer is still the best time to go. The Milky Way rises high in the sky during the Summer months setting up the perfect astro-photography shot to the many hopeful photographers that turn up on those clear nights.
Other Useful Tips?
- Expect to pay £0, unless they have begun charging for car parking but, when we were there we got away with paying nothing. I think this might have just been luck though, so up to you if you want to risk getting away with it.
- There are free toilets available near the caravan park.
- Bring water (and snacks) as there are no shops at Durdle Door and if you are visiting during the day you will need a glugg of the clear stuff after climbing back up to the car park
- Recently (Summer 2018) security has been introduced as a way to tackle groups camping/partying on the beach and leaving all their rubbish. If you walk to the end of the beach there is a cove which creates a lovely vantage point. It’s a shame you’ll now be sharing that cove with a pile of litter…
Lastly, Durdle Door is a popular attraction and quite rightly so, therefore whatever time you choose to visit you will not be alone. But its totally worth it to see something that, to be honest, would feel more at home on the tropical coastlines of Southern Europe.
Lar
