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lobster-red skin, and drove away the sounds of nature with
a plethora of portable radios.
But we had come to see the geology of the place.
Before lunch we climbed up over the top of the cliffs to
the east, towards a group of rocks standing off to sea.
These were the Mupe Rocks, of Portland stone, which are
steeply tilted here and represent the most easterly remains
of a ridge that must have run parallel to the coast from
Portland Bill to the Isle of Wight. The cliffs we were
walking on were of Portland stone overlain by the lower
Purbeck limestones; at one point we came across an exposure
of the famous fossil forest. Some climbed down the cliffs
to see more closely, but I contented myself with the view
from the top. Trunks of Cycads or Conifers were visible,
embedded in a calcareous tufa giving them an exaggerated
girth, but on at least one trunk, lying where it must have
fallen, the longitudinal stem ridges typical of giant
horsetails were quite clear.
Lulworth Cove is a beautiful example of a seaward ridge
of hard rocks (Portland and Purbeck) backed by softer rocks
(Wealden Clays), where the sea has broken through to make a