Click on the links in blue for more details. Climbing gently along the west coast of Portland you see extensive evidence of quarrying including remains of cliff-top railway tracks. Just before the main descent visit the abandoned Tout Quarry with its ongoing sculpture park. From the cliff top the 18 mile stretch of Chesil Beach and Fleet Lagoon are clearly visible. Crossing the pebble causeway back to the 'mainland' call in on the visitor centre. The flat path along the Fleet provides good bird-watching opportunities before you go inland, climb on to a ridge with good views and arrive at the outskirts of picturesque Abbotsbury with its Tithe Barn and Swannery. You rejoin the coast for a lengthy flattish stretch where you admire the resilience of plants growing on the shingle beach and see, as along all the coast, pill boxes that recall still primitive 20th century defences. The large pebble stones near Portland have given way to minute pebbles as you arrive in West Bay . Climb to Golden Cap, the highest point on the Dorset coast, and then on to Charmouth and Lyme Regis with some of the most fossil-rich cliffs and beaches in the British Isles. Frequent cliff falls uncover new fossils but also create path diversions that force the walker on to busy roads at times. Click here for a website with a comprehensive beginner's guide to all the places on the Dorset coast to look for fossils and here for a more detailed background.

Photos Main Page - Poole to Kimmeridge - Kimmeridge to Portland - Lyme Regis to Exmouth