Our adventure today commences with a train journey from Tunbridge Wells. Alighting at the Dorset market town of Wareham we immediately feel like we’re on holiday – we grab a hot handmade pasty from ‘The Salt Pig’ which we devour whilst watching the boats mooring alongside the quay in the sunshine.

The number 40 bus takes us towards Swanage passed Corfe Castle, with the Swanage Railway steam train puffing along beside us. It’s a bit of a walk from the main road through the quaint village of Worth Matrevers to Seacombe Cliff where I left off a couple of months ago.

Sadly as we get closer to the sea the sea mist gets thicker and thicker … but thankfully the mud mud mud from last time has, not completely, but very nearly dried out. Having wondered why there were so many cars parked in Worth Matravers we find most of these day trippers have converged upon Winspit. This unusual quarry, mined up until the Second World War, has cave like areas to roam, cliffs to practice climbing and an array of ruined buildings to ponder upon their use. Today it is made somewhat eerie by the sea mist floating around the day trippers.

Continuing round the headland, the pathway is edged by flowering blackthorn which relentlessly reaches out to grab any hanging piece of clothing it can! We come across a stunning metal ‘armillary sphere’ like sculpture – a memorial to radar research which took place in this spot in 1940-42. On St. Aldhems Head we pass a cute little rocky outcrop, a lookout station manned by the National Coastwatch Institution and unbelievably a chapel!

The mist finally clears revealing the blue sea and a series of rocky headlands. The pathway plummets down then climbs steeply up the other side revealing the view of the large rounded cove called Chapman’s Pool. The South West Coast path takes us on a little detour inland past the Royal Marines Association Memorial Garden on Emmett’s Hill to a little copse of stone houses and back along Hill Bottom to Houns Tout Cliff. The mummy sheep and their little lambs are curious about us and happily pose for a photo, especially number 82!

The climb up Houns Tout cliff is certainly challenging but the view looking back is worth it – I am pleased I brought my walking poles. The pathway back down through the woodland has the somewhat pungent smell of wild garlic – the flowers opening up in this afternoon’s sunshine. Here follows another couple of uneventful miles along Rope Lake Head, Clavell’s Hard and Hen Cliff to Kimmeridge Bay. We are relieved to see Clavell Tower in the distance and the path down to the bay. Thankfully a lovely local taxi lady answers our call and whisks us away to our Shepherds Hut for the night in Church Knowle.