There are opportunities to join them and support them along the route, or you can join a local group organising their own local walks.

Dorset for Europe have organised a 6 mile walk in the Purbecks on Sunday 10th May and we would like you to join us.

The walk is well signposted, particularly where the route coincides with the South West Coast Path (SWCP). In its favour are the sea views along the coast back to the Anvil Point lighthouse and the Isle of Wight one way, and towards Portland in front, the old quarry workings at Seacombe and Winspit, and the Square and Compass, arguably the best pub in the whole of the known universe.

The main challenges are the hundreds of steps along the route and, for those who find heights difficult, the cliff edges. Worth Matravers lies 8 miles southeast of Wareham. From the Wareham Bypass, continue south on the A351 for Corfe Castle.

After passing through Corfe Castle, turn right for Kingston on the B3069. A mile southwest of Kingston, turn right for Worth Matravers at the sign for Swanworth Quarry.

The car park is on the right at the start of the village, next to an impressive woodhenge.

JustPark location ID 999115, flat rate £3.00 fee – and yes, the old donation box is still set in the gatepost. What3Words: ///muscular.snuggled.resist,
Grid ref: SY974776.

1. Turn right out of the car park, down the lane 140 metres past the pub to the junction, where you bear right. After another 100 metres, bear left at the duck pond in the village square and immediately take the first lane off left, signposted Seacombe. In 50 metres a footpath sign directs you eastward, up three steps just before a driveway, to a path between a hedge on the left and a low wall on your right. Soon pass through a gate to see another sign, still saying ‘Seacombe 1’. Maintain the same direction downhill before veering slightly right of straight on uphill, over ancient strip lynchets, to a stone stile, where you can look back at the village. SY976773
2. Cross the field by the left edge and pass through a gate, then down steps and a steep descent to a waymarked gate. Cross a plank footbridge where you then turn right, joining a path along the valley bottom, past a milepost. When you reach a Coast Path sign with the acorn symbol, you have a decision to make: turning right at this point reduces the walk to just 6 miles but misses a couple of sights. SY984767
3. If you carry straight on, you should ignore the Coast Path continuation veering off left and instead cross over a stile next to a gate. Here you have another choice: fork left to soon descend to Seacombe Cove, or right on a track to view the old Portland stone quarry. After seeing either (or both), return over the stile and back to the signpost for Winspit and St Aldhelm’s Head, where you now turn left, past another milepost, through a gate and steeply up steps to the cliff above the quarry. At the top of the steps turn left and pass through a kissing gate. You’ll now be walking 4 of the 630-mile SWCP! Follow the clifftop path to Winspit, through more kissing gates, then turning briefly inland and through a kissing gate before you descend many steps to Winspit. SY977760
4. Here you have the option of visiting another quarry, its ruined buildings and man-made caves. Either way, follow the acorn signs by turning left to climb more step to regain the clifftop, ignoring a gate on the right and passing views back over the quarry. Soon another gate on the right offers an alternative path in the field, avoiding the unstable clifftop. Keep close to the barbed wire fence on your left, then return to the clifftop path via a gate at the end of the field. A mile beyond Winspit, the path starts to climb, steeply at first, towards St Aldhem’s Head, where you pass the memorial to the radar developed at what was RAF Worth Matravers, before reaching the Coastguard Station (SY960754) and St Aldhelm’s Chapel.
5. Please note, there are no facilities at the Coastguard Station. It is run by volunteers and has no mains water supply. Soon you reach the ‘big dipper’, 222 steps down and 185 back up Emmets Hill, after which you may need to take advantage of the stone bench to pause and look back or, if you cross the stile, there’s a stone table with benches at the Royal Marine memorial. After the path bends half-right, you can see  hapman’s Pool below, with Houns Tout beyond. SY958766
6. Having passed the northern tip of Chapman’s Pool far below, 200 metres past a bench set into the dry stone wall on your right, there’s a signposted option (SY957771) to take a shortcut back to Worth Matravers via Renscombe car park by turning right. Otherwise, continue heading inland  orthward straight ahead, soon to veer right and head steeply down West Hill to a track and a gate at the bottom. Turn right to pass through the gate and over a bridge to meet a lane and turn right again, now leaving behind the acorns of the SWCP in favour of a bridleway, signposted for Purbeck Way and Corfe Castle. A hundred metres ahead, as you approach woodland, a signpost directs you left for Worth Matravers,
   off the tarmac. (Turning right instead here offers another shortcut, saving not much distance and with much more tarmac underfoot.) Having turned left, the path swings right on a broad, grassy track with a brook to your right, until you reach a path on the right (SY966781), signposted for Worth Matravers and beer!
7. Pass through the kissing gate and over the smallest bridge ever to climb a stony gully, with a stream on your left. At the top you emerge, with another reassuring signpost, into a field where you bear right, away from the stream. Follow the right edge of two fields, separated by a stone squeeze stile. Looking back over your left shoulder here you see Swanworth Quarry and, northeast, the woodhenge that stands near the car park. In the far right corner of the second field, you have another decision: if you have already imbibed at the Square and Compass, you may, for the sake of legality, wish to head directly back to the car park, which you can do here by turning left. Otherwise, continue ahead along a narrow path between properties, soon emerging onto a drive. The footpath signs direct you alongside the wall on your left and over a step stile into a small field with a children’s playground ahead. Continue ahead along the right edge to reach the road, where you turn left into the village. Follow the road round to the left then swing right, past the church and on to find yourself back at the duckpond. Following the road half-left uphill here takes you to the junction above which stands the venerable Square and Compass hostelry, complete with its museum. If you wish to partake of its excellent offerings, turn right at the junction then immediately left up the steep drive, otherwise turn left to return to the car park.

On leaving the pub, turn right and right again onto the road to the car park

We welcome everyone to come an join us for this National Rejoin Ramble of the Purbecks, it will be wonderful opportunity to meet like minded people, have discussions or just enjoy a fabulous view.

You can register today so we know numbers and we welcome a small donation that goes towards the EU cause.