Chesil Beach pt1

The crunchiest walk in Dorset

By The Bimbler

Chesil Beach derives its name from the ancient English word 'Cisel' meaning Gravel.

My adventurer friend Robert Twigger and I set off from the Eastern end at Portland. The first section is geologically quirky due to the English Channel flanking the South side and Fleet Lagoon stretching some 8 miles along the other side of the huge pebble bank.

Within a few steps it becomes apparent how arduous (and noisy) it is walking over these sizeable pebbles... crunch... crunch!

Only 18 miles to the other end which I'm informed is equivalent to 36 miles on tarmac.

This is no afternoon stroll so we carry everything needed for what may take two days including drinking water which cannot be resupplied on route.

I've allowed for two days consuming 3 Litres water per day which tips the scales at 6 kilos of extra weight in my already overburdened backpack.

Before long Rob and I realised the beach is deserted and lost in the absurdity of our surreal adventure, settle into a suitably slow pace of anything up to 2 miles per hour.

with such a uniform terrain and such a slow pace anything not resembling a pebble really stood out and warranted further examination...

crunch... crunch... crunch!

as the day progressed we stopped in the shelter of a weathered fisherman's hut.

A unanimous decision was made to lighten the load by using some of our water supplies to make lashings of steaming hot tea... which in turn helped wash down plenty of snacks.

with energy levels topped up we headed onwards in the direction of a boundary post marking an Army firing range. When live fire exercises are going on this area is not the best place to bimble.

An hour or so later and with the sun starting to descend we could just make out the boundary marker in the distance. Decision time... if we get there and see no red flags should we carry on across the firing range or stop and set camp for the night here?