Hill Bottom (Chapman’s Pool) to Kimmeridge Bay (The remainder of Section 68 in the South West Coastal Path Guide)
16.6km total and 8km along the coastal path
It looked like the last good day before the clocks go back to GMT (or should I say UT now) and so we thought that it would be good to complete the path to the beginning of the Ranges walks to Lulworth. The next section is through the Lulworth Ranges and obviously can only be done when the ranges are closed, which is most, but not all weekends. There is a website with full details.
There is a car park shown on the ordnance survey map on the edge of Kimmeridge, this turned out to be an old Quarry, but with parking for about 20 cars, and surprisingly half a dozen there when we arrived on this October morning.
We followed a good ridge walk, then a minor road in Kingston, a pretty small village with a pub that we had visited before that had magnificent views inland to Corfe Castle. Today we didn’t have time to go to the pub but headed down to Hill bottom where we had previously finished our walk last Friday.
After a short while there is a steep assent to Houns-Tout cliffs with dramatic views back to Chapman’s Pool. After this we had a couple of heavy showers and this, together with heavy rain yesterday, made the path over the Kimmeridge clay very slippery in places. This was a pity because we rather had to look down at our feet rather instead of the views. Though we could see the cruise ships in Weymouth Bay – I think only 6 this time, though one may have been hiding behind another.
After a stop for lunch we reached the Clavell Tower now owned by the landmark trust and available for rent. Surprisingly, it is not in its original position but was moved 35m inland to avoid the risk if erosion.
From the tower it is a short walk down to Kimmeridge Bay, with a surprisingly busy car-park – though we discovered that half-term had started in Wiltshire, which may have explained why there were many children looking for fossils on the beach..
From here up the Hardy Way to Kimmeridge village where we stopped for a cup of tea in the Clavell restaurant in the village before walking through the churchyard back to the little carpark.
