Guided Walks at Worbarrow Bay

About

Join Jurassic Coast Ambassador John Scott for a guided walk to one of the Jurassic Coast’s most spectacular locations - Worbarrow Bay in Purbeck.

This is a circular walk taking approximately three hours – starting at 10:30am and finishing by 2pm, including time for a lunch break en route.

Dates: Wednesday 31 May and Saturday 22 July 2023

Meet at the car park at Tyneham, the “abandoned village” locked in time from the 1940s. Good footwear essential. Toilets are at the start (and end) of the walk. Please bring a packed lunch and plenty of water.

Tickets £10 per person, or half-price for Jurassic Coast Trust Members - BOOK HERE

 

Highlights of the walk:

At Pondfield Cove we will briefly look at the topmost rocks of the Jurassic System (about 150 million years old) then go around the corner to Worbarrow Bay. Here we can view rocks covering virtually the whole of the Cretaceous Period (about 145 to 70 million years old). The environments that these rocks were laid down in vary from warm tropical seas through freshwater lagoons to large ancient rivers, slowly returning through time to warm seas again.

The cliffs have a great variety of colours (grey, red, green, and white) reflecting these ancient conditions. Dinosaurs used to roam this area, and the evidence of their footprints can occasionally be seen here. There were also once forests here, as shown by fossil plant material including logs up to five metres long! This walk also shows defensive structures from the Iron Age to the present day.

This is a dynamic coast and changes frequently, offering new things to see while removing others. The beach is mostly pebbles so good footwear is essential.