Hanging suspended on cliffs above the crashing ocean and exploring the rugged Jurassic Coastline. The small town of Swanage has a lot to offer for adventurers and tourists alike.

Swanage is a coastal town in Dorset and sits at the eastern end of the Jurassic Coast. It’s picturesque and historic coastlines have made it a popular summertime tourist destination, whilst its rock has made it famous amongst British climbers.

Climbing in Swanage: Graduating from Sport to Trad

We finally dipped our toes into the (somewhat intimidating) world of trad climbing! Considering I have been climbing for a relatively long time (around 3-4 years), it is almost sacrilegious that it has taken me this long to start getting into trad climbing. But as someone who is decidedly not blessed with nerves of steel, it felt like an enormously scary step to take.

Wait… What is Trad Climbing?

Trad climbing, short for traditional climbing, is often regarded as the purest form of rock climbing. It requires the climber to place all their own gear to protect against falls, and then remove it once the pitch is complete. This is different to sport climbing, where protection and anchor points are permanently affixed to the rock (see here for more information). Although the actual climbing remains the same between the sport and trad, the main differences between the two are as follows:

1. A trad climber needs to use and carry a lot more hardware

This includes nuts, chocks, cams and slings. If you have ever seen climbers with a whole load of strange looking things hanging from their waist, clinking like a herd of cows – these were probably trad climbers!

2. A trad climber has to stop for longer periods of time along the route.

This involves hanging off one arm whilst they place gear into cracks and fissures in the rock. The more inexperienced the climber, the longer they will take to find and fix a good placement. Your forearms can burn out when you’re barely even off the ground!

3. For many people (myself included), trad climbing is a lot more scary.

Even though a well placed piece of trad gear can be just as safe as a bolt, many times placements can be (or at least feel) sketchy and suboptimal. This means that even the bravest of climbers often experience the dreaded fear of falling. Therefore, it is easier to ‘push your grade’ sport climbing than it is trad climbing. Trad climbers tend to stick to routes that they are confident they can lead without falling.

4. A trad climber needs to be more knowledgable and confident with their rope work skills.

Sport climbing is often not too different from indoor lead climbing, where you can simply ‘clip and climb’. Trad climbing requires more extensive knowledge and skills in order to safely place gear, build anchors for lowering off and abseil into routes.

We opted to do a two-day trad climbing course using our tried and trusted friends at Vertical Frontiers. We covered a lot within these two days, and by the end of it had successfully lead multiple routes each within the grades of Very Difficult – Very Severe. Although ‘Very Difficult’ (V Diff) sounds very difficult, it is actually one of the easiest trad climbing grades!

Winspit Quarry, Worth Matravers

Our first day was spent at Winspit, a disused quarry, as Storm Hannah made climbing directly by the sea impossible. This area is mostly bolted for sport climbing, but also hosts some interesting trad routes. The 20 metre high cliffs are composed of Purbeck Limestone, which is surprisingly sharp and grippy. There are multiple sectors within the quarry, from the main enclosed amphitheatre to long walls overlooking the sea. The climbing all felt quite steep, so expect everything from juggy vertical routes to severely undercut and overhanging climbs.

Subluminal Area, Durlston Country Park

The Subluminal Area is a classic Swanage sea ledge. There are several such ledges around the coast of Purbeck, of which Dancing Ledge is the most famous. This crag gets its name from the quaint lighthouse that it sits under. Climbing here is dramatic and exposed as the belay is from a narrow ledge suspended 10m above the crashing waves of the English Channel. Abseiling down the cliff face is required to reach the belay ledge. We found the climbing here extremely fun and generally well protectable.

Other Things to See and Do in Swanage

If climbing isn’t your thing, or you want other options for rest days and bad weather days, there are plenty of other things to do in and around Swanage.

Active

There are a multitude of other outdoors and adventure sports to try, such as coasteering, fishing, biking and kayaking. There are also many beautiful coastal walks around Swanage and Purbeck (see here for more information). The area is full of wild and weird flora and fauna. We were lucky to see a badger (the first one I have ever seen alive!), many different sea birds and the beautiful European Wall Lizard.

It’s called the Jurassic Coast for a reason! Coastal erosion along this World Heritsage Site has exposed an almost continuous sequence of rock formation covering the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (185 million years of geological history). Consequently, fossil hunting is a popular and surprisingly fun activity. Although we didn’t make any special effort to find fossils, we saw many throughout our time rock climbing. There are some spectacular ammonite fossils to be found on the cave roof at Winspit Quarry South Face, and some perfectly preserved specimens along the ledge at the Subluminal Area.

Chilled

If you are after something more relaxing, you still have plenty of options. There are beautiful unspoiled beaches, such as Shell Bay and Studland Beach and Nature Reserve. There’s even a nudist beach if that’s your cup of tea!

The Swanage Railway is also well worth checking out. This is a fantastically preserved heritage railway that takes visitors from Swanage town centre to Corfe Castle on an early 1900s steam train. Swanage railway station itself is particularly photographic thanks to the preserved vintage British Railways memorabilia. We didn’t get to visit Corfe Castle this time, but will definitely check out the 11th century fortification next time we are in the area.

Last but by no means least, the famous tourist destination Old Harry Rocks. These are three scenic chalk formations located at Handfast Point, in Purbeck. To access this site, you walk for a mile down the gentle South West Coastal Path until you reach the headland. The whole landscape here is stunning, with piers of rock all around that make great viewing platforms for Old Harry and the other sea stacks that jut out from the sea in front of the tall white cliffs.