Golden Cap
Golden Cap is the highest point on England’s south coast: a podium of gleaming sandstone 626 feet (191 metres) above Lyme Bay. A climb to the top is taxing but on a clear day you are rewarded with views that stretch from Portland Bill down towards Start Point on the south Devon coast.
At its base is dark grey mudrock from the Jurassic era, while the top is made of greensand formed around 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. As it is exposed to daylight the minerals that first give it its green hue turn gold: hence the name, Golden Cap.
Starting from woodland on Langdon Hill you walk past the deserted parish of Stanton St Gabriel, then as you steer down Stonebarrow Hill to the South West Coast Path, steel yourself for one of the biggest ups on this roller coaster trail. You’ll find the summit surprisingly flat, because during the Cretaceous period this was an ancient river terrace that left behind the gravelly deposit you find today.
Back down on the shoreline, the base of the cliff is jam-packed with fossils, particularly closer to Charmouth where there are ammonites and bullet-shaped belemnites – the remains of ancient squid-like creatures.
The rock is notoriously crumbly though – 2020 saw a thousand tonnes fall close to the beach just along the coast – so the National Trust ask you keep back from the foot of the cliff below and away from the edge up top.