After a great road trip around the coast of Devon and Cornwall I was returning to Bournemouth in Dorset. I would remain in Dorset while I searched for a new contract in the UK. While in Dorset I could visit some places I missed last time, the first being the Old Harry Rocks on the Jurassic coast.
Old Harry Rocks walk with OS Maps Online
When I was last in Dorset I relied too heavily on the AA’s walking guide to explore the county. This time I only needed to think of an interesting location like the Old Harry Rocks and explore possible walks via the Ordnance survey online maps.
From the ordnance survey map I could park in Studland explore Old Harry follow the Purbeck way and then circle back via footpaths through Studland Heath. OS Maps online is invaluable if you are a walker and or a landscape photographer looking for new locations.
Old Harry Rocks Seascape Photography
I not arrive at Old Harry Rocks on the Purbeck coast as early as I would have liked, like before sunrise. Bournemouth is not the ideal place to drive out of being very congested with speed cameras every 50 yards. Also I have a problem with my back, very hard to get it off the mattress 🙂
Still it was a beautiful winters December morning and I do enjoy walking in the sunshine. Walking and landscape photography can often be at odds with each other.
Still, I spent a good hour just around Old Harry photographing it from different angles. This is where the Jurassic coast of Purbeck and Dorset begins.
Looking east from Old Harry towards Swanage is a cliff face known as the Pinnacles with obvious signs of collapse.
Old Harry apparently gets its name after a pirate from Poole used to hide behind the rocks awaiting approaching merchant ships before ransacking them. It would be good to photograph the rock stacks and cliff face from a boat on a calm day. Amazingly these chalk rock stacks is all that remains of cliffs that use to run all the way to the needles in the Isle of Wight. Somewhere I want to visit.
Studland heath Agglestone Rock
As the day progressed clouds moved in as I made my way along the Purbeck way and then down onto the Studland heath. Unfortunately had to cross a golf course on the heath before discovering the peculiar Agglestone rock.
Finally I made it back to the car park in Studland with a convenient pub next door called the Bankers Arms which was very popular and busy. Good to be back in Dorset. Check out my compositions shot on my mobile of Old Harry and the Purbeck Way hosted on google photos.
On the drive back to Bournemouth I was going to scout out the Purbeck ridge west hill with sunset views over Corfe Castle.