Corfe Castle sandwiched between two beaches.

A two hour journey West along the coast yesterday yielded a castle sandwiched by a couple of incredible beaches. Yes, I said castle sandwich.

Lulworth Cove is a gorgeous beach destination on Britain's Jurassic Coast with something like 200 million years of geological history embedded in the limestone and chalk of which the whole region is composed. From Lulworth, we hiked up and over the steep chalk mountain to Durdle Door, undoubtedly one of the most amazingly beautiful places I've ever been.  It's a pebble beach with a spectacular limestone arch that's been carved/drilled out by the sea. In fact, according to Jeff, a teacher from nearby Bournemouth we met on the cliffside down to the beach, "durdle" comes from the Saxon word for "drill" or "bore."

The water was the clearest I've seen, like a glass of drinking water. Or more accurately, like a glass in which ice cubes have been melted, because it was that cold. Despite this, Rowan was determined to swim the 75 yards or so out to the arch from our spot on the beach. I was unwilling at first, but she convinced me by showing me that if I just kept my head and face out of the water, the cold was perfectly bearable (refreshing!). She also convinced me just by heading out on her own; parental instincts took over from there. Griffin couldn't be stopped either, so I was fully committed.

Pam and I hiked back over Chalk Mountain to the car park at Lulworth Cove and then met the kids, who left the beach 15 minutes later, at the Durdle Door parking, and we headed for nearby Corfe Castle in Wareham. An amazing ruin of a castle built by William the Conqueror. We got there with something like 45 minutes to spare, and the five of us ran around snapping photos of the crumbling castle walls and of each other standing among its doorways, windows, arrow slits and murder holes.

Five miles away, we reached the seaside town of Swanage. With a picturesque blend of old and new buildings cascading down the hillside to the water, it's a pretty idyllic place. In fact, we've decided to move there as soon as I can worm my way into a full-time work-from-anywhere situation. 

We laid on the beach and swam in the evening light; Berit and Pam walked into the town to forage for food, and when they returned with a couple of small pizzas, we ate them in the grass above the beach road.