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From
Lyme Regis to Lulworth Cove, parts of this walk are as beautiful
as it gets in the British Isles. Yet you are in no wilderness area
being fairly near attractive villages and towns throughout the
journey. This is a walk of great variety, naturally concentrating
on the popular Dorset Coast Path. The Dorset coast line is an area
of outstanding geological importance as over 200 million years of
rocks have been laid down, bent and twisted before being eroded
by the sea to expose rock profiles on beaches, accessible
to fossil hunters and scientists. So important is this area that
it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However our walk also dips
inland to visit a mysterious region of ancient hill forts, Roman
and Saxon remains – the ancient kingdom of Wessex. You have a
couple of nights in Dorchester, Thomas Hardy’s Casterbridge,
with its beautiful museum and essentially Roman form. Here there
are walking options within the town, or without, to the beautiful
village of Cerne Abbas and out to find Hardy’s cottage in the
woods.
The
tour starts from another town with literary associations: Lyme
Regis with its medieval Cobb (harbour wall) which is a favorite
place for almost everyone who visits it. John Fowle’s novel
“The French Lieutenant’s Woman” is set there and the author
lived in the town until his death in 2005. On the walk you also
visit Abbotsbury a
gem among English villages, while Maiden Castle and the Cerne
Giant are spectacular archaeological sites of great importance.
The last part
of the walk roller coasters along the cliffs above the natural
arch formation of Durdle Door and then down to Lulworth Cove – a
perfect oval cove protected from the sea by rocky
fingerlike peninsulas.
The coastal villages can
be rather crowded in high summer and on bank holidays and are understandably popular, but you will also find many
quiet areas whilst walking. The weather is generally warmer and
more settled on England’s south coast than in other parts of
Britain and some steep paths
aside, the grade is on the easier side of our walking holidays in
the UK.
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General
Information
Duration
of tour: 8 days (7 nights)
Season:
April to October
Joining
point: Lyme Regis
End
of tour: Lulworth Cove
Getting
to the Start
Outward
journey from London to starting point: By train from London Waterloo
to Axminster; service about every 2 hours, journey time approx 2.5 hours;
Then taxi or bus to Lyme Regis from Axminster train station.
Inward
journey to London at end of tour: Taxi from Lulworth Cove to Wool
train station (6 miles/£12). From Wool direct hourly train service to
London Waterloo via Bournemouth, Southampton (for trains to Gatwick
Airport). National Rail website is www.nationalrail.co.uk
if you want to look at the journey involved.
Breakfast:
in UK will generally consist of sausage, bacon, eggs etc, cereals and
fruit will also be available. It is important for you to tell us if you
have any dietary requirements when you book your holiday so that we can
inform everyone that you are staying with.
Baths:
it is not normal for your room to have a bath, the main reason being
that it takes up a lot of space, some hotels/guesthouses may have a
separate room in the house where a bath is available to guests, but in
the main it is showers.
Single
Supplements:
are payable on most of our tours. 1) The single supplement
guarantees the privacy of your own room, however, rooms can at times be
small and in some places may not enjoy the same facilities as
double/twin rooms. 2) You are not just paying a supplement on the
room but the luggage transfer costs you are paying in full. The cost of
moving 1 bag or 2 bags etc remains the same. On some of our trips it is
possible to reduce the cost of the single supplement if you happen to be
a 3rd person travelling, or have chosen a date when other clients are
booked.
Luggage:
When staying in hotels, sometimes your luggage will have been taken
to you room awaiting your arrival. However don’t be surprised if your
luggage is waiting for you to take it up to your room.
Meals:
This tour is on a bed & breakfast basis only. All the towns and
villages passed through have stores for packed lunch materials, or there
are sometimes places to eat such as a beech cafe on the way. Places for
your evening meal are recommended in the text of the route notes.
Your
Accommodation
q
Nights 1 & 2: Our first two nights are spent in
the little fishing port of Lyme Regis. The hotel was formally a Coaching
Inn. The hotel still retains its superb 17th century
character, oak beams and irregular shaped rooms. All bedrooms are
tastefully decorated and comfortable with ensuite or private facilities.
There is also a small pool and spa facilities available to you (at our
usual hotel).
q
Night 3: Our third night will be spent at West Bay,
the harbour of the old market town of Bridport, in a guesthouse of
architectural and historical interest.
It is situated on the quieter side of a small fishing village and
just 1 minute from the harbour and beach.
There is a comfortable residents' lounge with attractive garden.
q
Night 4: Your accommodation tonight is set in the
very heart of Abbotsbury. Abbotsbury itself boasts breathtaking views of
rolling meadows and glorious country gardens. All rooms are ensuite.
q
Night 5 & 6: A large, early 19th century
townhouse has been converted into a hotel, offering spacious rooms and
great comfort right in the heart of this busy town, just a few m inutes
away from the museum and bus stops. Great breakfasts and a friendly
service prevails. .
q
Night 7: Your accommodation tonight is a
comfortable family run hotel of 17 rooms, only 200 yards from Lulworth
Cove. Built 100 years ago in a quiet elevated position overlooking the
Cove and Stair Hole, it still holds an unrivalled position with views of
the sea and surrounding hills. En-suite facilities.
PLEASE
NOTE: It is generally normal practice when staying in hotels that you
check-in on or after 2pm and checkout by 10am the following morning.
Guesthouses/bed & breakfast establishments are normally check-in on
or after 4pm and checkout by 10am.
Outline Itinerary
The
Jurassic coast is inherently unstable due to its composite geomorphology
and changes to details of routes can occur at short notice beyond our
control. Please take care on the sea cliffs and look out for and observe
footpath changes that are designed to protect you.
q
Day 1 Lyme
Regis: Travel to
starting point (Lyme Regis). Explore town and the partially medieval
stone (Cobb) harbour. The Lyme Regis museum is a great introduction and
insight into the natural history of the area.
Day
2 Lyme Regis: Walk
through the famous Under-cliff (nature reserve on coast west of town) to
Axemouth and Seaton in Devon and return to Lyme by bus (8miles 4-5 hours
/ 405 metres total ascent)
or explore coastal cliffs for fossils.
q
Day 3
Bridport:
“Roller-coaster” footpath along coast over Golden Cap hill 191 m
(highest sea cliff in the south of England) to West Bay (10 miles 5-6
hours / 835 m total ascent / descent). Interesting sequence of cliff
paths and smugglers’
villages such as Charmouth
and Seaton.
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q
Day 4
Abbotsbury: Coastal
path via a Saxon Hill Fort with magnificent views of Chesil Bank
(longest shingle beach in Europe) to Abbotsbury with its medieval tithe
barn and swannery, the only one of its kind where swans are bred. There
are plenty of sites here, especially we would recommend a stroll up to
St. Catherine’s chapel at sunset or dawn. This chapel served as a
lighthouse from monastic times and through the destruction of the monasteries
as a reference landmark for shipping. (10
miles / 5 hours / 425m
total ascent).
q
Day 5
Dorchester:
Inland via Dorset Ridgeway path to Maiden Castle, a massive ancient
earthwork fortress sacked by the Romans in the 1st century A.D. and
Dorchester (10.5 miles 5 hours / 485 metres total ascent). Maiden castle
is the greatest Iron Age fort complex in the UK and takes almost an hour
to walk round. Find the remains of the Roman temple, and look at the
formidable ramparts. The Romans established
Dorchester on the plain below the fort, and the existing town
still exhibits
a plan set within the lines of the
Roman design that was not broken until the coming of the railways in the
1840s. There is also a Roman house you can visit.
q
Day 6
Dorchester: Optional
walks within Dorchester around the line of the city walls (mostly
demolished) where you can visit sites such as the Hangman’s Cottage,
the site of the gaol, Dorchester museum and interesting parks and town
houses. If you want a solid
walk you can take a morning bus to Cerne Abbas
and then walk back along part of the Cerne Valley trail back into
the city (8 miles / 4 hours / 170 metres total ascent). Cerne Abbas is
home to a giant of indeterminate age carved
into the chalk downs
above the village. It possibly is not as old as it looks!
q
You could also
walk past the isolated cottage at Higher Bockhampton where the Victorian
author Thomas Hardy (1840 – 1928)
was born (National Trust property) and then to the village of Puddletown (the setting of Weatherbury in’
Far from the Madding Crowd'). Bus or taxi from Puddletown (6 miles, 3
hours from Dorchester) bus back to Dorchester; fares not included in
tour price.
q
You could also
take a bus to visit the famous village of Milton Abbas with its two long
curved rows of thatched cottages facing each other across the village
green.
q
Day 7: While
your baggage goes direct from Dorchester to Lulworth Cove, you return by
bus or by train to the coast at the lively resort of Weymouth, take a
local bus to Bowleaze and then follow the Dorset Coast Path eastwards
along the brilliant white chalk cliffs from Weymouth to Lulworth Cove
(8.5 miles / total ascent
750 metres.). On the way you pass the natural arches of Bats Head and
Durdle Door and the long abandoned medieval village of Ringstead. This
is another roller coaster day, but you can bypass the hilliest sections
with a more inland route. Lulworth Cove is a beautiful spot, albeit
a busy tourist honeypot. However most visitors do not stay the
night and you could get up before breakfast to have the cove all to
yourself or return to Durdle Door in the evening
for beautiful sunsets!
q
Day 8: End
of tour. When/if
you can tear yourself away from the scenic wonders of Lulworth Cove and
Stair Hole you will need either to take the bus or
order a taxi from Lulworth Cove to Wool train station for your
journey back to London (taxi approx £13).
Included
Bed
and breakfast, with ensuite facilities. Luggage transfers from Inn to Inn during the tour.
Full route notes and map package.
Not Included
Transfers
from and to train stations at start and end of tour are not included,
nor are bus/train/taxi fares during the tour.
Extend your stay
Extra
nights: Extra nights are possible at any point in the tour.
Two nights at each of Lyme Regis and Dorchester are already
included. Another very pleasant place for an extra night is Abbotsbury,
with its famous swannery (England's first nature reserve - open to the
public), medieval tithe barn (still in use for storing reeds, not open),
the 15th century hilltop chapel of St Catherine and a sub-tropical
botanic garden. Abbotsbury is also only just over a mile from the famous
10-mile long ridge of shingle known as Chesil Beach.
Abbotsbury
from £40 per person per night
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