On Foot

On Foot KIMBERLINS AND SLINGERS – PART II

Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Each month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual and sometimes the unfamiliar.

For September and October, we’ve taken a walk around the Isle of Portland and continue this month with the second part of the walk from Portland Bill back to Ferrybridge, along the eastern side of the Isle.

1 Heading away from Portland Bill, you will begin to pass through a series of quarried ledges with derricks which were used to load the quarried stone onto waiting barges. Portland stone has been used in buildings around the world including the

United Nations Building in New York and the

Tower of London. Here, the path weaves along the coast, past the Old Lower Lighthouse which is now home to Portland Bird Observatory, through different quarried areas, passing huts which become less frequent as you leave the Bill behind. After a short while, if you look to your left along the road, there is a long, low, shed-like building. This protects

Culverwell Mesolithic site, which is approximately 8,000 years old; it consists of a large floor of limestone slabs on top of a shell midden. 2 Keep walking through the quarried areas hugging the coastline, as you gradually start to climb. There are a couple of dead-ends and sharp drops into quarried pits. Keep close to the coast as you walk through the quarries - do not follow the path inland until you reach Freshwater Bay. There are a couple of paths that lead away from the coast before this point but ignore them. As the path climbs a bit more, turn away from the coast to eventually emerge on the road; cross this, turn right and follow the footpath for 600 yards. After Cheyne Weare car park, you will see a signpost directing the coast path back towards the sea. Cross back over the road, heading downhill as the footpath zig-zags before bearing left to follow the coast again. You will >

catch glimpses of Church Ope Cove with Rufus

Castle perched above it. Descend a series of steps, through trees and scrub, down to the cove. 3 On reaching Church Ope Cove, you will discover a wonderfully secluded beach, a real find with huts clustered around and clinging to the tricky topography. Some of the huts have pebble gardens, like a scaled-down version of a castle keep with its outer bailey. The beach is a fine spot for a picnic.

Leave the cove via ascending steps and look out for signs to St Andrew’s churchyard. This is another detour worth taking to explore the romantic ruins of the church with its headstones inscribed with skull and crossbones. From here, return to the footpath and continue climbing to reach the impressively-sited Rufus Castle. 4 Turn right by the castle and continue upwards and along the coast path which soon reaches another junction; keep right. After a short while the coast path switches up to a higher section running along the high ground but you can now take the route of the Weymouth to Easton railway which follows the base of sheer cliffs popular with rock climbers. Follow the line of the railway for just under a mile until you reach a sign on your left taking you away from the coast again. The path then zig-zags uphill to regain the high ground and rejoin the coast path, emerging at the memorial obelisk outside the Young Offenders

Institute. There are views from this path across to a huge wall surrounding a rifle range. At the top, turn right and skirt around the perimeter fencing, which bears left and then right to emerge onto common ground. Here you will notice an engine shed once used to house the locomotive for the incline railway, which transported the stone used to build the harbour breakwater. Follow the coast path to the left, and then right to pass the High Angle Battery - again, this is worth a short detour. In a short while you will reach The Verne Citadel, which is now used as a prison. This impressive Victorian fort is surrounded by a huge moat and earthworks and, from the outside, retains a similar presence and enigma in the landscape to that of its Iron Age counterparts. 5 At the bridge to the south entrance, follow the road left (away) from the entrance, which then turns right and downhill. At a bend, go straight onto a path to follow the outer defences of The Verne. This bears slight left, with excellent views across Fortuneswell - you will finally get the feeling that you are completing your circuit of the Isle! The path hugs the outside of the moat and bears right to eventually go through a small underpass and, after a few yards, you will find yourself at the top of the path which was once the Merchants Railway and which heads straight downhill. You pass next to housing and, at the bottom of the incline, go through another underpass and turn left into the road. 6 At the Castletown roundabout keep left along

Castle Road and then turn right down Liberty

Road passing Portland Castle, one of Henry VIII’s coastal chain of defences. Keep following signs for the coast path round to the right. Soon you will see a more modern item of military building: two unused sections of the famous Mulberry Harbour which were built as portable harbours for the

D-Day landings. Pass through the marina and keep on the coast path which then follows the road to eventually reach the roundabout on the A354 which you passed earlier. Turn right here to retrace the path along the old railway line back to the

Ferrybridge car park.

dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk southwestcoastpath.com