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Accommodation - 7 nights/8 days
The villages of Hardy’s Dorset have been accommodating visitors for many centuries. We spend the first 2 nights in Lyme Regis where Jane Austen would still feel at home. Our accommodation is a former coaching inn, it has modern comforts, but still maintains its superb 17th century character.
Our second stop is at a regency style country house hotel about 300 metres from the picturesque harbour and beach of West Bay. The rooms are spacious and have ensuite facilities.
At the beautiful old monastic village of Abbotsbury we stay in a friendly and intimate hotel with the high standards of service and facilities you would expect from a Premier Inn.
Centrally located in the historic county town of Dorchester, we spend 2 nights in an attractive Georgian property built in 1815 by Lord Ilchester for his coachman, it has now been converted to a hotel.
Our last night is spent at a comfortable family run hotel overlooking Lulworth Cove. All rooms are tastefully decorated and are ensuite. This hotel also boasts an outdoor swimming pool.
Inn to Inn 8 days
Duration: 7 nights/8 days
Tour Code: WDC
Grade: Easy - Moderate
Day Stages: Min 8 miles, max 10.5 miles
Self-Guided Dates: April - October
Waymarks
The coastal section is well signposted and relatively easy to follow. Inland (days 5 & 6) close attention has to be paid to the map and route notes.
Accommodation and Meals
Bed and breakfast throughout in comfortable country inns and hotels.
Start and End of Tour
Most convenient major city and international airport is London. By train from London Waterloo to Axminster. Service about every 2 hours; Then taxi or bus to Lyme Regis.
Taxi or bus from Lulworth Cove to the nearest train station at Wool (5 miles). Then hourly fast train service to London Waterloo.
The richly varied landscape and the historical treasures of Dorset have inspired
generations of authors including Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy (born near Dorchester
or ‘Casterbridge’ as he called it) and more recently John Fowles who wrote ‘The French
Lieutenant’s Woman’. The film of this book contained a famous scene of Meryl Streep
walking along ‘The Cobb’ at Lyme Regis, which is where we start our walk.
You can’t walk far without encountering places immortalised by Hardy in his Wessex novels and ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ is still an appropriate description of the many rural villages which lie peacefully unspoilt in Dorset’s hidden valleys and rolling hills.
From Lyme Regis we follow the coast as it stretches eastwards, first to Charmouth, an area famous for its fossil-encrusted cliffs, and then to the l90m headland of orange sandstone known as the Golden Gap - highest point on the south coast of England.
The coast is followed along an undulating cliff path to the small fishing village
of Bridport, continuing on through a landscape of hill forts
and burial mounds before
dropping down to the beautifully preserved village of Abbotsbury which does not even
have street lighting!
The medieval tithe barn of Abbotsbury, still used as a storehouse for reeds cut from the nearby lagoon. The village is also famous for its ‘swannery’, a nature reserve for wild swans founded in medieval times.
We then turn inland and reach the huge Iron Age fort of Maiden Castle - a good hour can be spent walking its enclosure. This was overwhelmed by the Romans in AD 70. From the ramparts stroll into historic Dorchester, there is a historic walk with the town, and walks to Hardy's Cottage and a return walk from beautiful Cerne Abbas.
We then return to the coast to walk past the natural arch of Durdle Door to Lulworth Cove, a sandy bay ringed with magnificent cliffs.
Visit the Sherpa Expedition website for more information
Sherpa Expeditions design independent walks that enable you to sample the countryside and the history of Britain. Their routes bring alive the descriptions of writers like Wordsworth and Thomas Hardy. You may visit places where Roman legions marched and fierce battles were waged. Dramatic scenery, castles, historic churches nestled amongst wild flowers, sleepy villages: these are all integral parts of walking in Britain.