The Jurassic Coast: Durdle Door, Studland Bay, and a Castle I'd Hiked Before

By the time we reached Bournemouth, the trip had already given us soccer, cathedrals, and castles — but this leg was personal. We were there to see my friend Ben, and to show the rest of the group a stretch of coastline I'd fallen for years earlier.

The first time I visited Ben, we'd done Studland Bay, Old Harry Rocks, a severely hungover stop at Stonehenge, and Corfe Castle — my very first real hike, long before this trip. Coming back with friends this time, Corfe Castle was the one place I made sure we didn't skip. Walking those ruins again, this time explaining the layout and the view to people seeing it for the first time, turned an old memory into a new one.

On the way, we stopped at Old Harry Rocks — a set of chalk sea stacks marking the easternmost point of the Jurassic Coast, cut from the same cliffs as the rest of this stretch of England. Then there's Durdle Door. Photos don't really do it justice — a natural limestone arch standing in open water, carved out over millions of years along a coastline that exposes about 185 million years of geologic history in its cliffs. I like rocks, and this is about as good as rocks get. Standing above it at sunset, arch lit up gold, cliffs falling away on both sides — that's the shot that ended up as this site's front door for a reason.