Now we are much more free to walk long distances and stay in overnight accommodation it is time to think about walking from Swanage to Lymington.
Or start by walking a short distance between chines or the piers. You can view the coast from the open top buses.
The Bournemouth Coast Path guide, embracing the end of the Dorset Coat Path and the Christchurch Coastal Path as far as Lymington offers some of the best seaside scenery available in the south.
In the 19th century Julia Cartwright described the view as ‘Nice over again’ adding ‘for a minute it seemed like a dream and there were indeed Mediterranean waters below’.
In the same century Henry James commented on ‘the view across to the Isle of Wight looking like a pretty marble toy on an ultramarine horizon’.
Those views survive today from a coast full of history.
The path along the Poole Bay cliffs will be extra attractive this year with Bournemouth expected to have unprecedented numbers on the beach below.
If in the Bournemouth area you can purchase the Bournemouth Coast Path guide at Westbourne Bookshop, Waterstones in The Arcade at Bournemouth, Bookends in Christchurch and BH6 Books and Home in Southbourne Grove.
Or go direct to the publisher Countryside Books.
