17 Langton Herring to West Bexington

Rodden Hive and The Fleet

Our friends Judith and Tony joined us for today's leg. We did the two car thing (parking one a the end and driving to the start in the other) and starting walking from the centre of Langton Herring, retracing yesterday's path down to pick up the Coast Path by Rodden Hive.

From here, the route heads inland and stays that way until Abbotsbury. We went across fields then up a steadily climbing field-edge path, then across a hillside with fine views towards the South Dorset Ridgeway and Hardy's Monument to the north.  Then up again, to reach a long straight section half-way up a hillside. This we traversed for a mile or so, initially with great views to the south east. The full length of Portland can just about be discerned in the rather hazy distance in this photo.

Soon we could also see the sea, Chesil Bank, the Fleet - in fact the point where it ends - and Abbotsbury's celebrated Swannery.

The path swings just a little to the down to descend into Abbotsbury and the 14th century St Catherine's Chapel - which we had had glimpses of earlier - is revealed in the full glory of its location.

By now the path had become a ridge descending into the valley, with hills all around. A wonderful piece of walking.

We decided to save Abbotsbury's many charms and attractions for a full day's visit later in the year and skirted round Chapel Hill, almost covered, as Pevsner notes, with strip lynchets. The path goes down towards Stavordale Wood, with Abbotsbury sub-tropical Gardens hidden behind it.

Here a sharp left brought us finally back down to the coast. We looked with some anxiety at the path which ran behind the pebbly beach, but was little more than an extension of it. We knew it was 2.5 miles to today's end point at West Bexington. Would it all be like this?

Mercifully, the gravel quite quickly gave way to a tarmaced road and we were able to make good progress. Tony told us that in the 1950s it was possible to drive all along here, but now the road has been downgraded to just serve the few houses found on this rather desolate section of coast and there is nowhere to stop. Traffic is actively discouraged. Seems fine to me.

At the point at which we joined the pebble path, the pebble bank was still quite high, though lower than it had been yesterday. It fairly quickly declined in height and after a mile or a mile and half, it was possible to get a clear view of the now normal-looking beach stretching away to the west.

We finished up with an excellent lunch at the recently refurbished Manor Hotel, West Bexington. It would be well worth going back for the sole purpose of eating here.

Conditions: cloudy, extremely strong wind again, not too cold.

Distance: about 7 miles. Distance covered now 70 miles.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset).

Rating: four stars.The last part was a bit of a struggle, but the walk down to Abbotsbury was magnificent.

16 Ferry Bridge to Langton Herring

Oyster beds on The Fleet

Time to begin this year's assault on the Coast Path. Last year we did 56 miles in mainly circular walks, but our target this year is another 70, which will take us into Devon. Our plan is to park at the end of each stage and get a taxi or bus back to the start. Eventually of course we will have to stay in the locality for two or three days at a time.

We picked up the route at the Ferry Bridge pub and immediately walked past the Crab House Cafe, where we had a wonderful lunch on my birthday last year. Soon there is a grassy path, then you cross a little beach to continue on a grassy headland. The Fleet - the lagoon which lies behind the barrier of Chesil Beach - with the Crab House Cafe's oyster beds is alongside. There were lots of dog walkers in this area.

After a detour round an army depot, The Fleet widens out into the area known as Littlesea. There was a nice view ahead, although the red flags indicated that the Army Firing Range at Chickerell was in use, which meant another detour.

At least the detour was extremely well signposted. As we went round we heard and then saw a squad of soldiers returning from the firing range. Do they always have practice on Saturday or were this lot especially poor and requiring extra work?

Soon we passed a pair of crows apparently having a fight to death on the ground. A third crow, perhaps the object of their affections, was nearby. Many other crows were in the air, taking no part. We found this rather disturbing: we don't usually see nature so raw.

We now approached Butterstreet Cove and were increasingly conscious of how this coastline is unlike anything else we have seen in Dorset.

We also reflected on the ever-present gravel bank of Chesil Beach. It is still quite high here and it obscures the sea and foreshortens the horizon. It began to feel like a giant wall keeping us away from the outside world.

After we rounded the grassy headland, we were surprised to see an eclectic collection of buildings at the back of a substantial Georgian mansion.

This it transpired is Moonfleet Manor, now a hotel. As we walked on we saw a quite substantial, if somewhat decayed, wall surrounding the whole site and we could imagine it in its original state.

There followed a very quiet and isolated stretch to eventually reach Rodden Hive, another of the various bays along the back of The Fleet. A signboard revealed that it is major winter roost for water birds.

Now for the final stage up the hill into Langton Herring, past the church of St Peter, with its blocky tower ...

... to reach the Elm Tree Inn, where we were just in time for an excellent lunch. Fish is a speciality and we look forward to going back.

Conditions: fairly clear, extremely strong wind, quite cold.

Distance: about 7 miles. Distance covered now 63 miles.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset).

Rating: three stars.The Fleet is quite interesting and unusual and a haven for sea birds, but overall probably the least rewarding leg so far.

Sightings

Little Egrets, Widgeon, Redshanks, Brent Geese, Mute Swans.