Dorchester (South) Circular
Length: 24.3 km (15.1 mi) [shorter or longer walk possible, see pdf or
webpage]
Ascent/Descent: 423m
Net Walking Time: 5 ¾ hours
Toughness: 6/10
or
Dorchester (South) to Portesham with the ‘Pre-Historic Loop’
Length: 25.5 km (15.9 mi) [shorter walk possible w/o the loop, see pdf or webpage]
Ascent/Descent: 823/827m
Net Walking Time: 6 ½ hours
Toughness: 8/10
Meet at Dorchester South Station at 09.30
(the 09.20 train from Weymouth arrives 09.31).
The bus from Portesham to Weymouth runs at 15.10,
16.10, 17.10, 18.15, 19.05 and 20.48.
Rewarding expedition from the county town of Dorset through the
pre-historic landscape of the Dorset Downs with splendid views out to
the Jurassic Coast from the South Dorset Ridgeway.
Maumbury
Rings, an ancient British henge earthwork converted by
the Romans for use as an amphitheatre (the largest of its kind in Britain), is
walked through early on. Then Maiden Castle, the largest – and one
of the most complex – Iron Age hill fort in Europe, with its up to four
banks and three ditches and remains of a Romano-Celtic temple, is explored in
detail. Settled from 4000 BC, it was one of the most powerful settlements in
pre-Roman Britain, the Durotriges were the last tribe to have lived there.
From there the route follows the narrow South Winterbourne Valley
to lunch in Martinstown before a steady ascent up to the heathery Black Down, crowned by the 22m-high Hardy
Monument (to Sir Thomas Hardy the Admiral, not the writer), with
some stunning views to the Jurassic Coast and the Isle of Portland. Continue
with views out to sea atop Bronkham Hill, with an interesting group of barrows
and shakeholes on its ridge. On the descent from it you pass more barrows,
en route back to Dorchester.
A long extension adds more pre-historic
highlights – the Valley of (Sarsen) Stones, one of the finest examples
of a boulder ‘train’ in Britain, several impressive barrows and two stone
circles – and leads through the very pretty Bride Valley.
Lunch: (pub lunch only possible if walked in reverse!
The
Brewer’s Arms in Martinstown (15.6 km/9.7 mi, food to 14.00).
Tea: plenty of options in Dorchester,
a pub and a café in Portesham (while waiting for the bus) and lots in
Weymouth. See the pdf for details.
For summary, map, height profile, photos, walk
directions and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.275
1 comment:
12 walkers set off on this one in overcast weather. All but 2 had seemingly not been to either Maumbury Rings or Maiden Castle or the Hardy Monument or the sheepwash in Martinstown ever, so all info panels (minus the ones in Maiden Castle that have gone missing) were studied intently. This, and the fact that we had SWC Butterfly Spotters 1 and 2 in the group meant that progress was towards the lower end of the spectrum. We eventually got to the wind swept Hardy Monument for 13.00 and settled into the pub benches for our picnic.
1 then went back to Dorchester along the Main Walk route, 1 took the short ending to Portesham, 2 were up for the Neolithic Loop and Portesham finish. The others contemplated some half-baked idea of walking on to West Bay (no chance!) or at least part of that route, as a swim had to be involved, but in the end settled for walking to Abbotsbury and taking the bus to Weymouth for that swim. In the end they were one bus ahead of the Neolithic 2 (the 17.10 was ours) who in the pub garden met a 13th walker, who had taken the bus to Portesham, climbed up to the Monument and did the Loop as well. On the bus we met 2 of the folk who had done the other of today's walks, but that's a different report, by a different person.
In Weymouth: ice cream on the beach, then chaos at the Station (where I bumped into 1 other who had been on the other walk and had seen her train back to The Smoke cancelled)
W=overcast-and-windy-to-lunch-then-mostly-sunny n=13
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