What’s the big attraction?
Bracing fresh air and beauty, laced with an intriguing geology and history. From rolling downs, vertiginous cliffs and weird rock formations to sparkling seas, long stretches of beach and hidden coves, Dorset’s coast packs in wonderful variety and plenty of wow-factor highlights. On a clear day the panoramas are spectacular and even in less clement conditions there’s a rugged grandeur here. Yet there is more – much more – to this long strip of shoreline than just good looks.
The Dorset seashore forms a substantial part of an area recently named the Jurassic Coast. This was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2001, a status shared with the Great Barrier Reef, the Tasmanian wilderness and Yellowstone Park, among other natural wonders of the world.
Running from east Devon along the edge of Dorset, the 95-mile Jurassic Coast is so called because right there is extraordinary evidence of 185 million years of Earth’s history, with amazing fossil sites and geological features spanning not just the Jurassic period (essentially the “age of the dinosaurs”) but the preceding Triassic and succeeding Cretaceous periods as well. So you can enjoy glorious living scenery – graced with wild flowers, the occasional appearance of a dolphin or a seal, sea birds and more – while also getting an awe-inspiring sense of the Earth’s past.
Can I walk it all?
Yes you can – if you have the time and stamina. The South West Coast Path begins in the Dorset port of Poole and extends for 630 miles around Land’s End to Minehead on the edge of Exmoor. Dorset’s Jurassic Coast path, known more tamely as the Dorset Coast Path, comprises an 86-mile stretch between Poole and Lyme Regis in the far west on the Devon boundary.
Between April and October a dedicated Jurassic Coast bus service (Coastline X53; details from Traveline on 0870 608 2608 or visit www.jurassiccoast.com) is in operation. This links the key gateways of the coastal path: towns and villages such as Bridport, Weymouth, Wool and Wareham. The service makes it possible to walk small sections of the Dorset coast without taking a car; with a £5.50 day ticket you can hop on and off at will during a 24-hour period.
Various organised hiking holidays along the Dorset coast are offered by Footscape (01300 341 792; www.footscape.co.uk), which provides those on its self-guided…
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