Outdoor Swimming: Lulworth Cove, Dorset

On the final day of our mini-moon, we popped across to Lulworth Cove to have a gander and a swim. It's part of the well known Jurassic Coast and attracts around half a million visitors each year.

On our way to the cove we passed Stair Hole, which is a much smaller cove and suggests what Lulworth cove may have looked like a few hundred thousand years ago:

Stair Hole

The cove at Lulworth is made from 5 different types of rock: Portland Stone, Purbeck, Wealden, Greensand, and Chalk. The University of Southampton host some excellent pages on the geology of the cove on their website, click to view. Below is a photo of Lulworth cove and below that the (slightly wet) interpretation board describing the geology.

By the time we finally got down to the water line, I was definitely ready to get in and go for a swim. I tend to gently enter the water due to my chest reacting badly to the cold, but due to the uneven surface I sort of stumbled into the water!

I have to say that it was an amazing place to swim. At we walked down to the water we saw another lad quickly coming out of the water looking a bit worse for wear and heard his girlfriend telling someone he had to go in for a bet. It's the sort of thing that can lead people to being in trouble in the water and needing help. I also find it hard to understand why more people don't partake in a little outdoor swimming as it's such a great hobby.

While it's great that we all have different interests, I find it really important to find a way to connect with the land. So we did a couple of Earthcaches, to try and get an understanding of the place before I went for a swim. We often see people walking somewhere to take a photo and then wander off without really pausing to take in the view and/or the atmosphere and I feel that if they took time to form a deeper connection they'd get so much more out of it. for instance, I like to try to identify plants that are growing in the places we visit too - then I can get an understanding of what grows where and over time can make connections between very different types of land due to the similarities in flora.

I often wish I knew more about geology. Throughout the British Isles, the geology is often covered up. Coastal places are really the only places where we get to see a lot of the geology of the British Isles - and they're often geological wonders like the cover here at Lulworth. I've tried reading about geology, but haven't found anything that's either simple enough or really sparked an interest - but there is still time. Sometimes it's okay to know what you don't know and come back to it at a later date. Even though I know so little about the rocks here, it was amazing to spend some time observing the rocks and how they currently lay.

Here's me near the mouth of the cave. If I'd have had more energy I'd have really liked to reach the mouth as the waves were looking brilliant. Hopefully one day I'll have the energy to get some really sea swimming done. Until then, I have the amazing memories of this cove and the mesmerising action of the waves and a view of nothing but sea.

There is a car park nearby, which gets full quickly. There's also a nice little museum there that among other things; shows how the cave has changed over time and what is still to change.

If you'd like to visit this spot, click here. Already been here? It'd be great to hear your experiences in the comments.

Wordless Wednesday: #Shelfie

Book Review: Seven Ages of Britain by Justin Pollard

This is an important book for me because it's the first history book I read because I chose to. I was never interested in history, I wasn't keen on the way it was presented in school and didn't choose it as a GCSE subject. I think what changed for me was that I became interested in history the year I met my wife, Lucy. I lived in North Lincolnshire where not a lot has happened, but Lucy lived in Wiltshire, where things have been happening that are nationally and internationally important for thousands of years.

So, when I saw the television series featured a fair bit of history around Wiltshire, I started watching it. Since then, I've been interested in history and pre-history.

This book is a great introduction to the history of the British Isles from 'the ice age to the industrial revolution'. It's too short (paperback 316 pages) to be anything but an introduction. The selling point of the book is that it focusses on the normal people that don't often make history, but still had to live with it and the consequences. However, while I agree that the book does focus on normal people, living normal everyday lives, I disagree that they didn't make history. If they didn't, then this would be an even shorter book!

The stories told have been well chosen and the normal people made history in their own ways everyday. Whether it was the peasants revolt, or the beginning of mining, or even the invention of flint tools - it wasn't kings and queens that started these things. It was normal people just looking for a way to slightly improve their lives.  This improvement in the early days tended to be slightly changing the environment, from using wood from trees to make semi-permanent houses all the way to later times with cutting down vast tracts of woodland over generations to enable full-scale farming to develop.

I read this book for the first time in 2007 and have recently finished reading it for the second time. I've found it to be a really readable book and if anything it provides enough information to allow the reader to either be happy with what they now know, or to go and research each topic in further detail.

As I say, it's an introductory text, but it's not just for newcomers to history, but will perhaps provide a different viewpoint for people that have been deeply into our British history for years.