Portland Loop

SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

WALK

Portland Loop

Sunday 25 March 2018

I slept well at the Portland YHA and woke early. There were only two us in an eight-bed dorm so there had been plenty of room and very little noise.

I headed to the kitchen for some coffee and breakfast and afterwards to the drying room. I had attempted to clean off the mud from my waterproofs from the previous day.

My plan today was to walk the coast path around Portland and then walk into Weymouth to catch a train to Wool. Susan and her friends were walking in the Lulworth area and would have to pass the small village of Wool. Luckily there is a train there from Weymouth and the tickets were very reasonable at £7.

I gathered up my things and headed out leaving the YHA behind. The Youth Hostel, or Hardy House as it once was, was constructed as a house for the Royal Navy store officer. Later, it became the HQ for the Royal Navy Provost, known nowadays as the Royal Navy Police, but with the closure of RNAS Portland, the house was taken over by the YHA.

I walked back down the hill to the point I had left the path the day before and climbed up the enormous bank that is Chesil Beach.

Chesil Beach

Chesil Beach is eighteen miles long, two hundred metres wide and fifteen metres high and together with the Fleet, form part of the Jurassic Coast and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I walked along the huge pebble bank until the pebbles subsided and eventually became the seawall. At the end of the wall, I headed up the steep hill, sticking to the Portland Coast Path, as it skirted the edge of West Cliff.

Tout Quarry Sculpture Park

This was a truly fascinating place. Tout Quarry was one of eighty working quarries on the Island and dates back to around 1750 when it was originally worked by hand. It was last worked in 1982 when 30,000 tons were excavated and in 1983 the Sculpture Park opened there.I didn’t get far before I a came across the entrance of the Tout Quarry Sculpture Park and decided to investigate.

Today, the Sculpture Park contains more than sixty hidden sculptures from national and internationally renowned artists including Antony Gormley.

You could easily spend an hour walking around this park, if not more. I head back to the entrance and then the coast path and continued my journey. I had not gone far when I found the path head closed due to landslides and was forced back into the Sculpture Park for a detour but I was soon back on the coast path.

Trinity House Lighthouses

I continued along the flat top of the cliffs and eventually came across Old Higher Lighthouse. I didn’t know that there were several lighthouses on Portland. I was only aware of the main one on Portland Bill but Old Higher Lighthouse is one of a pair that came in to use in 1716 and were rebuilt in 1869. The lighthouse at Portland Bill was built in 1905 to replace the two older lighthouses.

The Trinity House Obelisk is a daymark built in 1844 to warn ships off the coast of Portland Bill. The obelisk is made of Portland stone and is seven metres in height.I passed the Coast Guard lookout, now used by the National Coastwatch volunteers and then had to navigate around some sort of small MOD base which I later discovered was the Ministry of Defence Magnetic Range before reaching the southern tip of Portland Bill and the Trinity House Obelisk.

In the photo below, you can also see the second of the older lighthouses, Old Lower Lighthouse, in the distance.Portland Bill, however, is dominated by the newer Lighthouse, if 1905 can be considered to be new. Standing at forty-three metres and painted white with a broad red stripe, it is impossible to miss.

Having spent the morning walking South, I was now about to head North giving me the false impression of being halfway. I was not.

Heading North

I had walked about five miles and the total distance for today was more like seventeen miles but at least today had been more interesting than yesterdays walk.

I explored the nooks and crannies of the quarries along the coastline with only a temporary diversion to the road at Freshwater Bay returning to yet another quarry just passed the Cheyne Wears carpark.

The OS Map shows this as “Southwell Landslip” but there seemed to me to be plenty of evidence of quarrying activity of some sort. The coast path brought me out to Church Ope Cove and a small group of beach huts above which, on the cliff edge, where the remains of Rufus Castle.

It is believed that the first recorded Viking attack on the British Isles happened on Portland at Church Ope Cove which may explain why a Castle was later built overlooking the cove.The remains date back to the fifteenth century but the original castle was built in the twelfth century making it the oldest castle on Portland. It was named after King William II (William Rufus).

Nearby are also the remains of St. Andrew’s Church. St Andrew’s was Portland’s first parish church and remained as such until the mid-eighteenth century. It was built in 1100 AD on what was thought to be the site of a Saxon church. Although right next to Rufus Castle, French raiders managed to land at Church Ope Cove and burn down St Andrews not once, but twice (1340 and 1404) on both occasions, the church was rebuilt.

I followed the path up behind the beach huts and then down again on the other side. The South West Coast path continues along the top of the Grove Cliff but I missed this and walk along the bottom of the Penn’s Weare and Grove Cliff.

Eventually, this path runs out and as I reached the large buttressed wall of the disused firing range I was forced to take a zigzag path up the side of the cliff to join the main Coastal Path.

Her Majesty’s Pleasure

As I reached the top of the path I found my self outside of HM Young Offender Institution. I walk along the high, protected fences half expecting to see some of the inmates exercising in the yards on the other side or something but in fact, I did not see a soul.

I pondered the reasons why Her Majesty might be keeping wallabies at her pleasure for a short while until a sign, further down the road, ended the process abruptly. It read “Fancys Farm”.

I continued around the end of the facility and across a large open grass section on to a road. There were more fences here but not so protected or harsh looking. I then noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye and was somewhat surprised to see some wallabies shuffling around.

Verne Citadel

At the end of the road there was a sharp turn left, immediately my eye was drawn to a bridge over a dry moat and seemingly into a hill. I knew at once that this was the Verne Citadel and that the gate on the other side of the bridge was one of only two entrances. The other being a tunnel on the north side of the citadel.

Built as Portland Harbour’s main defensive fortification between1857 and 1891 its defensive role lasted only until 1903 when it was used a barracks and by 1949 it had been converted into a Category C prison, HMP Verne.

The path descended around the edge of the moat before joining the Merchants Incline, a horse-drawn and cable operated incline railway built for the stone trade on the island. It was in operation from 1826 to 1939. The disused railway is now a path and I followed it all the way down to the harbour at Castletown.

Weymouth

I continued through the marina and back towards Ferrybridge. Just over the bridge, the South West Coast Path joins the Rodwell Trail for as far as Castle Cove. I decided to stay on the Rodwell Trail because it was a disused railway line, part of Weymouth and Portland Railway, and almost all the way to the train station, which was where I needed to go. On a Sunday afternoon, this was a busy trail!

I reached the station and purchased my ticket for Wool but the next train was going to be almost an hour so I would have to amuse my self for a bit.

I found refuge in the Black Dog Inn, reputed to be the oldest pub in Weymouth dating back to the 1500s. This was a proper pub with proper beer!