The Jurassic Coast Road also offers excellent views, which encompass the patchwork countryside and Fleet Lagoon. Swimming at the eastern end is discouraged due to the depth of the water, which shelves away quickly just metres from the shoreline. Swimming is possible at West Bay where there is a lifeguard service in the summer months, however care should always be taken. Chesil Beach is a popular site for experienced divers due to its rich marine life.
It is also one of the premier destinations for beach fishing venues in the UK, meaning the beach is peppered with anglers and their tents throughout the year. The Chesil Beach Visitor Centre near Portland is well worth a visit during your time on the south coast.
Here you can learn about the history and geology of this spectacular site as well as the species that inhabit the shoreline and waters. Sunsets here are incredible spectacle, best enjoyed with a glass a wine in hand and delicious food shared with friends. At the eastern end you can use the Chesil Beach Visitor Centre pay and display car park, which is only a short albeit steep walk up and over the bank to the beach. Similarly, there is a dedicated car park behind Abbostbury Subtropical Gardens with a small cafe serving takeaway hot drinks and snacks.
Access to the beach is easy here, due to a wooden ramp laid over the pebbles. There is also a paved and level road, which runs parallel to the beach which is excellent for admiring the views.
Download our latest Holiday Brochure, with everything you need to know about our parks, accommodation, facilities and holidays in Dorset! We're extremely proud of the awards and it's easy to see why our guests return year on year.
It is 13 km long. Its width varies from metres at Littlesea down to just 65 metres in the Narrows. The deepest part is metres deep, but all of the mid and upper Fleet is less than 2 metres deep. It is formed from material from the east side of Portland moving north to form the Mere barrier and then Hamm Beach.
It is an area of shallow sand dunes overlaying shingle. Chesil beach and the Fleet looking north from Portland. Stand and look west along the Chesil from the crown of Portland Bill at Tout Quarry sculpture park or — my favourite view of all — gaze from the top of the hill west of Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens towards Portland.
It will make your heart skip a beat. And to be fair, walking any distance along the pebble and shingle bank of the Chesil will also make your heart thump like a kettle drum and your calves scream like herring gulls fighting over a dead mackerel. The way I like to enjoy the Chesil is in bite-size chunks. Otherwise it is too big 18 miles from the cliffs of Portland to the pier at West Bay , too calf-achingly crunchy, and there are too many zoned-off areas protecting the nesting sites of rare birds.
And for me, the best chunks normally involve eating or fishing, or both. It is a pebble beach approximately 18 miles long and stretches north- west from Portland to West Bay. For much of its length it is separated from the mainland by an area of saline water called the Fleet Lagoon. Chesil Beach also forms a tombolo linking Portland to the mainland. At the southern end the pebbles are fist- sized while at West Bay they are pea gravel.
The Fleet Lagoon is an area of shallow, saline water between Chesil Beach and the mainland. It is 13km long and its width varies from metres at Littlesea down to just 65 metres in the Narrows.
0コメント