Ferry Bridge to South Haven Point
Walked by Sally and Richard, 23rd-28th May 2013
Before walking this final leg of the South West Coast Path we had thought South Haven Point, at the entrance to Poole Harbour north of Studland, to be a strange end point for the South West Coast Path. To finish with a three-mile walk along a beach (albeit a very pleasant beach) and to be so much on the outskirts of Poole and Bournemouth is a bit odd - and the end is so much further east than the beginning.
However, if the path finished at Swanage you'd miss Old Harry Rocks; if the path finished at Lulworth you'd also miss the amazing walk through the Lulworth Ranges; if the path finished at Weymouth you'd also miss Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove; and if the path finished at Corfe Castle, you wouldn't be on the coast. So, all things being considered, perhaps the end point is sensible. It was a lovely walk.
In planning this section you need to remember that the Lulworth Ranges (between Lulworth and Kimmeridge Bay) are only open on particular dates, and we opted to walk this leg on the Saturday of the late May bank holiday. This brought additional complications - there is not a lot of accommodation in the Lulworth/Kimmeridge/Worth Matravers area, and the probability of getting a single night booking over a bank holiday weekend was close to zero. So we opted to stay inland at Corfe Castle for two nights, combining our coastal walk with some exploration of the rest of the Isle of Purbeck.
This, and the fact that we had two half days of walking at the beginning and end of the stretch meant that we only averaged 7 miles per day on the path itself (we spent six days in progressing 42 miles). However - as always - we discovered some delightful inland walks. Corfe Castle itself is a pretty place, though it was rather busy! We actually walked about 63 miles on this holiday.
The weather forecast had not been good, but we had two showery days on which we managed to avoid getting wet, followed by three days of glorious weather for walking (dry and sunny but not too hot). It rained on the final day, but even that was not as bad as the weather forecast had implied - most of the time it was just light drizzle, and it made the end of the walk suitably memorable.
This year's late spring meant that there were still lots of bluebells, both in woods and on the downs, as well as summer wildflowers in meadows and on the downs. However, my over-riding memory will be of masses of bright yellow gorse. The underlying geology is very clear from the landscape, with a band of chalk to the north of the Isle of Purbeck, a band of lower but harder limestone to the south and softer Kimmeridge Clay in between.
Richard had booked all the B&Bs direct and we carried our own luggage. The whole route is covered by OS Explorer Sheet OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset). We also carried the South West Coast Path Association's Guide and the Aurum Guide to the path from Exmouth to Poole, by Roland Tarr. However the large number of diversions meant that guidebooks were of limited use - we kept an eye on the South West Coast Path Associations's website but at the end of the day you have to follow the signposting and notices on the ground. There was a large inland diversion between Kimmeridge and Chapman's Pool as well as a re-routing near Durdle Door as a result of the landslip at the end of April. The coast remains in a fragile state with much evidence of recent slumping and landslips. No-one wants this to stop people walking the coast path, but you do need to be careful.
My sister Chris kindly agreed to meet us at the end of the Path, to photograph us and to drive us back to her house in Lymington. This worked really well, and it also meant that we could avoid the eye-wateringly expensive train fares from home to the south coast. We left our car in Lymington then caught the train back from Brockenhurst to Weymouth and the bus back to Ferry Bridge to start our walk. After finishing, we stayed overnight with Chris, with a celebratory meal at The Bluebird Restaurant, and we drove home on the following day.
