Dorset Coast 20/21 September

i went i saw i paddled a bit further than planned....
i started out a bit late thanks ironically to the southampton boat show, so my intended 15k paddle from lulworth to chapmans pool was a no go so late in the day , 4.00pm before i had boat packed and on the water. admittedly not just the traffic, i did head down to check out Chapmans pool on foot as i had never camped there before thought this might be prudent. For this late start and a couple of other reasons no overnight parking around Studland being not the least of the flaws in my plan. I decided to start out from Kimmeridge and have a short paddle round to `Chapmans Pool 4k (i think), camp overnight on the beach, and then paddle a bit more on the sunday morning round to studland then to hitch back to pick up the car.

So with that as the alternative plan I headed out ,against the tides (and wind)douh! not to big a problem I can cope with that for a few k!. I was at chapmans Pool within an hour so as i wasnt quite ready to come off the water, I paddled a bit further round past St Aldhelms Head in mixed, choppy, twisty, and slightly unsettling water, not to bad heading out but the return journey was more of the same, but with the tide and a tail wind,
this seemed to make for a less stable and more surfey paddle, (does every body else feel more stable paddling into wind or is that just me?).

Those first few hours of paddling look like about 10k on map, then back to the beach to set up camp, and gather some of the driftwood i spotted earlier on in the day. Now i could make a nice big fire to keep me warm, Normally i dont do fire, the latent arsonist in me has never been as adept as i was at age 10, when it only needed the combination of me, a mate, and a box of matches, to get within a mile of a field of corn stubble for the whole of East Anglia to spontaneously combust. These days i have trouble getting a Trangia to stay alight, it took me an hour and a lot of matches to remember that a nice pile of dry tinder is a very desirable component of the whole fire lighting process, once i twigged this things got a lot warmer and also smokier.

Still I was happy I had satisfied my deep inner need to hunter gather, and was happily sat on the beach incinerating every bit of driftwood i could lay my hands on. Pasta and dodgy Dolmio sauce had been cooked and scoffed.

The stars were copious the moon was rising behind the cliff, and the waves were gently cascading through the gravel just a few yards away from my camp.....hmmm what time was high tide tonight?, thus the next few hours till midnight were spent with a half awake half asleep one eye on the encroaching waves state of semi doze. It did get a little chilly in in the wee small hours, I could have made very good use of a sleeping bag liner for that little bit of extra warmth, but no frostbite so it cant have been that cold.

The cold did serve to wake me early enough to watch three guys paddle into Chapmans Pool and over to my little stretch of gravelly paradise. They bid me a "good morning" and "did you sleep here allnight!!!!?" and to me the slightly envious tone in their voices was clear, when i confided what my plans for the day might be, "sounds like a great day shame we have to get back home to the familly, only been able to get out for a couple of hours have to be home by 10am" these 3 would be the only other kayakers that i would meet until i got back into kimerage at the end of the day.

A quiet moment or two as i packed my boat and made breakfast and coffee, well pseudo coffee, filter bag in a foil pack drinkable but not really coffee as we know it. Breakfast was only a bunch of cereal bars and cheese sarnis made with warm pitta bread (Thanks to Angie for that tip "pitta packs smaller and travels better than a loaf").

The wind had freshened a little and had swung around to a more southerly direction. I was fed the boat was packed and by 8.30 we were both back on the water. I had decided overnight that i didnt fancy the potential 12k walk back to the car from Studland should I fail to Hitch a lift, and lets face it who in there right mind would pick up a hairy damp disheveled kayaker late on a sunday afternoon? (i would but i was in a kayak not a car).

So my choice was to either paddle round St Aldhelms Head into swange then back to Kimerage to pick up the car or to head straight back to Kimerage then paddle up to lulworth for what passes for a cup of coffee around here, then return to Kimmeridge the car and join the cues on the way back to london.

Lulworth won out in the end mainly because of the state of the water around St Aldhelms Head was far worse than the previous evening I would have been happy going round once but wasnt keen on the trip back.

lulworth via kimmeridge was the winning choice and anyway I thought it wouldnt be all that far just a few K on from Kimmeridge to lulworth isnt it....? I didnt have that bit of map with me. It didnt even dawn on me when I chatted with the local fisherman "morning a nice night to sleep under the stars"and "you going far today?" My reply was "oh not so far, no further than Lulworth then back to kimmeridge..." i should have guessed from the the raised eyebrows and the "you must paddle quite fast" and when I added "just a couple of hours worth of paddling" the look of knowing that came in reply should have set the alarm bells ringing.

I left the bay at 8.45am, and headed out into the again wrong way tide, and the stiffening headwind, thinking i had no more than about 7-8k till I could order up a cappucino dans le tasse de polystrene. As my watch was keen to point out to me 4 hours later "if that was 8k im a rolex" I was definetly getting slower, it may also have been all the false lulworths along the way Brandy Bay, Worbarrow Bay, Mupe Bay, it may even have been the fact that i was having a great time and with the inner peace and calm that comes from paddling on my own ,the distance and time just melted into one.
I think it has more to do with me being a little usless in the morning without a decent shot of caffine, so with low flying gulls shags/cormerants, (never sure which is which just that nobody ever fancies a quick cormerant...) and a happy smile i worked my way along the coast about 500 meters off shore, trying to avoid the confusion of waves, chop and back wash, rebounding off the cliffs and underlying edges. I did eventually make it to lulworth and the Confusion of day trippers who come there through the brick hell that passes for a visitor center expecting a nice day of sandcastles and deckchairs on the beach only to find that the tide is in and the beach wont be back till they are sat in their cars heading home.

After the polystyrene clad caffine injection was downed it was time (1.00pm) for the return journey oh and guess what the tides had once again turned "bugger" not only that but wind was now back to the easterly i had made friends with the day before "double bugger" It was 3.30 before I finaly made it back into Kimmeridge but I was so pleased i went out this weekend i was close to not going when I couldnt find anybodyelse to paddle with yes it would have been good to have company but i think it would have been a completely different trip not in a bad way but it would have been different, yep a few things could have worked better like my tide and distance calculators but there were some that could never be improved like the sublime sunset over Chapmans Pool and a perfect beach bivi with driftwood fire to keep me warm.

Now im back at my work desk and ive still got that on the water feeling the bobbing will die down in a couple of days but for now i have big smiles.
Hope I get to share the next trip with some or all of you.