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A message on the ansa-phone in the afternoon from Hugh
confirmed the trip was on. The heat wave earlier in the
month a distant memory, the planned trip actually fitted
into a brief window of light winds (SW 3), calmish seas(
slight) and no rain (dry!)
So on the beach finds us having an in-depth briefing,
which included the issue of personal laminated maps, which
enabled our group of 5 to set off eastwards.
We cleared Ringstead (which is a big bay) around a small
choppy point. The eroded grooves on the cliffs tell their
tale-this is an exposed coastline in spite of our eponymous
island in the way of the prevailing South Westerlies.
So the green coast of the bay gives way to the deserted
cliffs with Bat Hole in the distance. Small groups of
cormorants could be seen. We took our turns to go through
Bats Hole which was calm and the sea full of kelp, to find
Hugh ambushing us armed with his camera.
Next Durdle Door which is still standing in spite of my
sons claims that it had fallen in due to a combination of
global warming and acid rain.
Around the corner we beached, stretched our legs and were
treated to refreshments-home made flapjacks and what's this?
Hot chocolate flavoured with almond liqueur! A nice touch Mr
De Iongh.
Issued with whistles, green ,pink and purple night lights
we set off back. The journey back was a delight ,into a
freshening wind in our faces. Tidal assistance meant easy
paddling with the hull of my canoe slapping down loudly into
wave troughs. The light went quickly, huge formations of
heavy, dark rain clouds out to sea built up rapidly, filling
the horizon.
In the gloom we spotted the rocks of the causeway and
beached in the dark with varying degrees of clumsiness.
It was a successful trip and most invigorating. Thanks to
Hugh for organising it. He obviously put a lot of thought
and effort in and everybody enjoyed it.
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