Having been kept awake for some of the night followed by the early morning dawn chorus I am pleased when dawn finally breaks at the Purbeck Hotel. Breakfast is served in the conservatory from where the view of the garden draws us out to admire the yew columns, amazing weeping willow tree and interesting artefacts.

After grabbing provisions from the local co op we wander down to the seafront, passed the gardens where we reminisce the days of young children on a camping holiday maybe 20 years ago? We walk round the headland onto the grassy cliff top towards Durlston Head; looking back we can see the glorious curved Swanage bay with the sun glinting on the houses cradled by the rolling green Dorset hills.

The coast path hugs the cliff, through a wooded glade bordered by stone walls. We follow the Isle of Wight Road through Burt’s Wood. This delightful woodland, part of the Durlston Pleasure Gardens, has received funding by HLF for restoration, it’s lovely to think that others will be able to enjoy this wooded glade in years to come.

Stopping for a drink and snack to take in the view, negates the need to stop at the Visitor Centre and at Durlston Country Park – shame it’s in an amazing location, but we have a difficult walk ahead of us. Round the corner we find an incredible stone globe; reading up I find that this was commissioned by George Burt (he of Burt’s Wood, I guess?), in the late nineteenth century, along with the Castle (now the visitor centre).

Around the corner we walk past the now closed Tilly Whim Caves and Ledges – with a history going back to the eighteenth century when limestone was quarried out of the cliffs, craned down to ships using a wooden crane called a Whim. Good old George Burt turned them into a tourist attraction in 1887, but sadly they were closed in 1976 when deemed unsafe due to a rockfall.

Our walk along the Jurassic coast is next punctuated by the Anvil Point Lighthouse, with two little cottages named Veronica and Rowena! From this point on we feel like we are leaving civilisation behind us as we head along the muddy pathways towards Dancing Ledge. We finally meet up with Dean, Douglas and Freddie the dog who have walked along from Worth Matrevers to meet us.

The walk gets muddier and muddier with the pathway going up and down the cliffs. We marvel at the people coasteering along dancing ledge – I think I’m happier on dry land! We do, however, take the steps down to dancing ledge where we sit on the edge and marvel at the quarrymen from years gone by who created this ledge to help get stone onto the boats.

The end of the walk can’t come soon enough now, we are tired from three days of walking, fed up with mud, mud and more mud and in need of a drink and sit down. We opt for the first footpath leading to the quaint duck pond village of Worth Matrevers, where we are so relieved to find a warm cosy cafe.