4 Anvil Point to Dancing Ledge

The lighthouse at Anvil Point

On a brief visit to Poole we saw a chance to make a little further progress along the Coast Path. We parked at Durlston Country Park and followed a winding tarmac path down towards Anvil Point to resume our route. According to the Trinity House website, the lighthouse dates from 1881 and was opened by Joseph Chamberlain, father of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

There was a fine view down to the lighthouse as we drew closer. Out to sea the sun broke through the clouds in a few places creating bright circles on the surface: a searchlight from heaven.

Before reaching the lighthouse there is a small preserved stone quarry, with a little four wheeled cart, called a quarr, used to bring the stone up.

We joined the Coast Path, initially walking along a grassy area, but soon joining a narrower and increasingly muddy path. We rapidly formulated a law to the effect that the depth of the mud was inversely proportional to the width of the path - some of the narrow sections were extremely sticky.

This section of the Coast Path is fairly straight, without major features. We went through a National Trust section named Belle Vue, although it did not seem any more belle than the adjoining areas. The first landmark was Blackers Hole and there were by now impressive views along the coast towards St Aldhelm's or St Alban's Head.

Another half a mile or so of struggle through the mud and we came to Dancing Ledge.

We found our way down the ledge itself and noticed that some climbers had descended from there down to sea level to make an assault on the cliff face further along. We naturally had a little dance on the ledge, doing some of our favourite jive moves.

We had planned this walk by reference to the map and now climbed the steep hillside leading to the ridge which runs parallel to the coast along this section - an ascent of about 50m. On the way up we saw our first daisy of the year, which we found strangely cheering. At the top we briefly sat and enjoyed the feeling of the warm sun on our faces - for a moment we felt that we might have been in Nice.

The walk back along the ridge was a delight by comparison with the walk out and we fairly sped along over the short grass. The sky had cleared somewhat and we were surprised by how blue the sea was in places.

The route continued over grassy paths interspersed with dry stone walls.

We reached Round Down and soon returned to the car.

Conditions: cloudy, some sunshine, about 9 degrees; did I mention that it was very muddy underfoot?

Distance: about 5 miles, of which about 2.5 was on the Coast Path. Distance covered now 12 miles.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset).

Rating: four stars.

3 Swanage to Anvil Point

Swanage Beach

We used the visit of our friends Judith and Tony to continue our progress along the South West Coast Path. We skipped a couple of suburban streets in New Swanage and picked up the route at the start of the Swanage sea front.

At the end of the sandy beach we passed the curious column with three cannon balls on the top erected by John Mowlem (the founder of the building company) in 1862 to commemorate the defeat of a Danish fleet in 877 in Swanage Bay by King Alfred. This does invite some questions - mainly, why?

We followed the edge of the bay and then detoured to pay our 40p and walk along the Victorian pier. According to Swanage Pier Trust website, "The original Swanage Pier was constructed in 1859/60 by James Walton of London for the Swanage Pier and Tramway Company and opened by John Mowlem. The Pier was built primarily for shipping stone. Horses were used to pull carts along the narrow gauge tramway which ran along the Pier and seafront." We had noticed traces of the railway as we walked around towards the pier. The original pier was found to be too small and was rebuilt in the 1890s.

There is a fine view from the pier towards the Wellington clock tower. There is a wonderful story behind this. It was originally built in 1854 in honour of the Duke of Wellington near London Bridge, but was soon found to be impeding the traffic and taken down. George Burt, a nephew and business partner of John Mowlem, of whom more will be heard shortly, removed the stones to Swanage and rebuilt the tower in its present location. The clock never followed, and a spire was removed in 1904 as it had become unsafe.

We left the pier and continued on our way to pass a pair of Ionic columns, which mark entrance to Prince Albert Gardens. They were apparently date from the early 19th century and were brought to Swanage by John Mowlem, who clearly liked his columns.

A little further on there was a fine view looking back to the pier. Its dog-legged character was more evident from this vantage point.

 We now climbed up to skirt Peveril Point with its lighthouse and continued to climb as we walked along a grassy cliff overlooking the sea. After a short detour along a road we entered Durlston Country Park and walked along a well made path to pass beneath Durlston Castle. The Castle's website explains that it was built as a restaurant by George Burt and was part of his grand plan to create an exclusive housing estate on his land as part of his dream of transforming Swanage into a fashionable resort. The castle is currently under restoration and most of it is hidden under scaffolding.

A little further on, right below the Castle, is the Great Globe, 40 tons of Purbeck stone with a map of the world, nestling in an enclosure in which there are a series of stone plaques carved with quotations from poets and the Bible, as well as facts about the natural world.

We now followed the path above Tilly Whim Caves. (A whim was apparently a type of crane or hoist and Tilly was possibly a quarryman. As just-so stories go, we thought this was pretty weak.) Soon we reached the lighthouse at Anvil Point.

Here we left the Coast Path, turning inland to climb Round Down. From here a grassy track which later joined a road led us down to Swanage High Street, where we saw another wonderful contribution to Swanage's character from the indefatigable George Burt. This is the Town Hall.

It is essentially an unremarkable building to which has been added a superb facade by Sir Christopher Wren no less. Burt rescued it from the Mercers Hall in London's Cheapside.

We now retraced our steps to the start and  enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Ocean Bay restaurant.

Conditions: cloud, drizzle and rain, about 9 degrees.

Distance: about 5.5 miles, of which about 3 was on the Coast Path. Distance covered now 9.5 miles.

From: 50 walks in Dorset (AA) - but from a different starting point and with the sea front element as an addition.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset).

Rating: four stars.

2 Studland Bay to New Swanage

Swanage Bay

   

Flushed with the thrill of Monday's impromptu start of walking the South West Coast Path, we decided to carry on. We parked at the Knoll Beach visitor centre and walked on down the sandy beach (Middle Beach) towards Redend Point, with Old Harry Rocks in sight beyond it.

When the beach ends, you climb a tarmac road and turn left into woodland. The views of the beach through the trees were delightful and - perhaps fancifully - reminded us of the Costa Brava, for example, a walk from Llafranc to Golfet.

Soon, we reached Fort Henry.

It was built in 1943 and is 90ft long with concrete walls 3ft thick. In April 1944, it was the vantage point from which King George VI (now famous for his stammer of course), Winston Churchill, Lord Mountbatten, and Generals Montgomery and Eisenhower watched Operation Smash, a rehearsal for the D-Day landings which took place a couple of months later.

We then walked along Studland's South Beach and then took the path along to Old Harry Rocks at Handfast Point. This involved retracing - in reverse - the wonderful Studland to Old Harry walk we did last October - on which we took some nice photos of the Rocks.

We carried on towards Ballard Point, with a nice view behind us.

 At Ballard Point we descended towards Swanage Bay - see the photo at the head of this post. At the outskirts of Swanage - New Swanage - the path heads inland through a housing development and at this point we followed a path back towards Ballard Down. This climbed steadily until it offered a lovely view of Ballard Down to the right, heading down towards Ballard Point, with the Isle of Wight faintly in view behind it.

Now we began steep, but mercifully diagonal, ascent of Ballard Down proper. After a short while a conveniently located bench offered magnificent views over Swanage. The Victorian pier, on the far side of the bay, was much more noticeable from this height.

We reached the ridge of Ballard Down at the point shown on the map as Stone Seat. Fair enough, there is an aged stone bench, complete with a graffito dated 1852. Poole Harbour can be seen in the background.

We carried on the same direction and followed a path which descended to reach the Norman church of St Nicholas in Studland. We admired the fine chancel arches in the interior.

From here, we headed past the Old Manor Hotel to regain the Coast Path and retrace the last bit of the way to Knoll Beach.

Conditions: cloudy, threat of rain.

Distance: 7 miles, of which 4 were on the Coast Path. Distance covered so far 6.5 miles.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset).

Rating: Four stars.

Sightings

A nice flock of Brent Geese off Middle Beach on the return leg.

 

Signs that winter is ending

Catkins on the way to Old Harry Rocks, Vinca in flower by a farmhouse on the way up to Ballard Down, snowdrops in St Nicholas church yard.

Reflections

It was great to be on Ballard Down again and be able to identify all the coastline back to South Haven Point. Of course you could study the map, but there is no better way to get to know an area than to extensively walk it. 

It was also satisfying to do a walk without reference to a walk book. Our dependence on walk books is partly laziness and partly because I am still not very good at calculating distances. Still, our planned approach to the Coast Path will require more of this, which is excellent.

1 South Haven Point to Studland Bay

 The start of the Coast Path

Since we acquired our base in Poole, we have been pondering when and how to tackle the South West Coast Path, which starts at South Haven Point - on the other side of the chain ferry from Sandbanks. For our previous efforts at long-distance paths we have either taken two cars or walked with friends, again using two cars. Today we had a new idea: perhaps we could cover the route by means of a series of circular walks. Obviously, only part of the route would progress the Coast Path, but it would avoid having to organise a taxi to get back to the start. We will follow our previous principles and do the walk in its correct sequence and walk each leg in the right direction.

At present, we see ourselves eventually reaching Weymouth, or perhaps Lyme, but we will see. There is no hurry.

We crossed the chain ferry and parked at the car park on the other side and stood to attention by the sign post to Minehead (630 miles) before striding off along the sandy beach of Shell Bay.

The tide was quite low and so it was possible to make rapid progress walking on the firm sand near the water's edge. At the end of the beach, we turned the corner and continued our progress along the straighter, and much longer, Studland Bay, passing the famous Naturist area without distraction.

We left the beach at the Knoll Beach visitor centre and headed inland to soon reach Godlingston Heath, where we passed to the east of the wonderful Agglestone, just touching the route of an earlier walk from Studland to Old Harry's Rocks. It was remarkably sandy on the heath, and in places walking was actually harder work than on the beach!

We then headed north to find and cross the road back to the chain ferry and enter the nature reserve that surrounds the lake known as the Little Sea - originally a sea water lagoon. The early evening view across towards Old Harry's Rocks was delightful, with a pinky tinge in the sky.

We followed the line of the road back to the deserted car park.

Conditions: dry, cloudy, some mud.

Distance: just under 6 miles, of which 2.5 was on the Coast Path.

From: 50 walks in Dorset (AA) - but done in reverse, from a different starting point, and with a bit cut off.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Rating: four stars

Signs that winter is ending

The broom was starting to come into flower on the heath. Winter's dominion is beginning to wane.