Gad Cliff stands just over a mile to the west of Kimmeridge. It is an impressive and beautiful line of rock faces peering south across the mouth of the English Channel.
I say that the faces peer, but they don’t. The linear rock strata look like bandages across their eyes, binding them as if a punishment for some ancient wrongdoing. They are all blinded to the view, all save for one, at the eastern end of the cliff. It’s eyes stare and its mouth gapes.
Below Gad Cliff lies Brandy Bay, which was given its name thanks to the smuggling activities that took place here in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Brandy Bay is made up of similar ledges to those we saw in Kimmeridge, although they were submerged by the high tide as we passed by.
We climbed up Gad Cliff and walked along its top. Just inland, in the valley to our north, we saw a small cluster of buildings: the Lost Village of Tyneham. We rarely head inland on our walks (there is simply no time if we want to get round the whole country), but on this occasion it was time to detour.
Points on this part of the walk (copy and paste the co-ordinates into Google Earth):
- Gad Cliff: N 50° 36.950 W 002° 10.200
- Brandy Bay: N 50° 36.750 W 002° 09.500
- The Lost Village of Tyneham: N 50° 37.390 W 002° 10.150
Walk #79 Statistics (of which this post forms the second part):
- Date of Walk: 23 May 2015
- Walk #79 total distance covered: 9.61 miles
- Coast of Britain Walk Total Distance Covered: 671.24 miles
- CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO INTERACTIVE MAP!!!
The Coastal Path 
Definitely worth a detour – a very poignant experience……
Wonderful photos. Those are impressive ciffs and you clearly had a good day for it. One of them you have got reminds me a bit of that cliff somewhere in America with faces carved in it – thankfully that has not been done here.
I’m glad you got to Tyneham too. A very atmospheric place but one which usually leaves me angry over the way the locals were betrayed by the army. I’m always a bit torn about the army presence here. The treatment of Tyneham and the lack of access (generally only weekends). But on the flip side their presence has meant the coast (and much inland too) has been largely left to nature. I suspect if it was not like this, places like Tyneham and Worbarow Bay would be rather more developed and far more touristy. There would probably be lots of caravan sites, for one! To be fair too, they have also been improving access too. A new path was opened from East Lulworth to Arish Mell a few years ago, for example.
I agree entirely jc. The MoD land we have passed through is generally more remote and less populated than many other places – and I for one love that!