6
nights
236
km driving
9
challenges
2,425
XP to earn
6
nights
236
km driving
9
challenges
2,425
XP to earn
Six nights in a loop from Poole and back, split between two bases on the Jurassic Coast. The first three are in Purbeck: Old Harry Rocks and the sands of Studland, Corfe Castle in its gap in the hills, red squirrels on Brownsea Island, and the cliff path from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door. The next three move on to Lyme Regis, where Mary Anning found the first ichthyosaur skeleton, with Golden Cap, the swans at Abbotsbury, Thomas Hardy's houses and the Cerne Abbas Giant around it.
Starts and finishes at the ferry in Poole
Best from April to October
236 km of driving in total, about 4 hours over 6 days
Corfe Castle: Slighted by Parliament, Held by Lady Bankes
Edited by Avandra
Days 1–3 · 3 nights
Purbeck and Lulworth
31 km · 44 min from Poole
Includes a car ferry (Sandbanks Ferry)
Base camp · 3 nights
Norden Farm Campsite
4.6
866 Google reviews
Editor's note
Three nights in Purbeck. Walk the cliff top to Handfast Point for Old Harry, then the dunes of Studland Bay. Climb through Corfe Castle, whose towers lean where Parliament had it slighted in 1646 after Mary Bankes led its defence through two sieges, and ride the Swanage Railway steam train to the village. Boats to Brownsea leave Poole Quay and Sandbanks, for red squirrels, avocets and terns, and the stone marking Baden-Powell's 1907 camp. At Lulworth, walk the cliff path from the cove to Durdle Door. Tyneham, abandoned to the army in 1943, can be walked into when the Lulworth ranges are open.
Old Harry Rocks and Studland: The End of the Jurassic Coast
250 XPWalk out along the cliff top to Handfast Point and look down on Old Harry
10.6 km from camp
About 3.5 h
Corfe Castle: Slighted by Parliament, Held by Lady Bankes
250 XPClimb through the broken keep and the leaning towers
1.2 km from camp
About 4 h
Brownsea Island: Red Squirrels and the First Scout Camp
225 XPTake the boat from Poole Quay or Sandbanks to the island
8.8 km from camp
About 5 h
Spring to autumn only
Lulworth, Durdle Door and Kimmeridge
325 XPWalk from Lulworth Cove over the cliff path to Durdle Door, the natural limestone arch, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site that runs 95 miles from Exmouth to Studland
14.6 km from camp
About 6 h
Walks from camp
Days 4–6 · 3 nights
Lyme Regis, Abbotsbury and Hardy's Dorset
78 km · 1 h 29 min from Purbeck and Lulworth
Base camp · 3 nights
Golden Cap Holiday Park
4.6
752 Google reviews
Editor's note
Three nights around Lyme Regis. Join a guided fossil hunt on Monmouth Beach and Church Cliff, where Mary Anning found the first ichthyosaur skeleton in 1811, and walk out along the Cobb. From Seatown, the path up Golden Cap, at 191m the highest point within a mile of the south coast, takes about forty minutes. At Abbotsbury the mute swans on the Fleet gather for feeding at noon and at four, and St Catherine's Chapel stands on the hill above. For Hardy's Dorset, see his birthplace at Higher Bockhampton and Max Gate in Dorchester, then T. E. Lawrence's cottage at Clouds Hill and the Cerne Abbas Giant.
Lyme Regis: Mary Anning's Fossil Coast
350 XPFossil-hunt at Monmouth Beach and Church Cliff with a guide, on the Lias shore where Mary Anning found the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton as a girl
8.2 km from camp
About 4 h
Golden Cap and West Bay: The Top of the South Coast
300 XPClimb Golden Cap from Seatown on the coast path
1.4 km from camp
About 4 h
Abbotsbury: The Only Managed Swannery in the World
250 XPWalk through the swannery among the nesting mute swans
17.3 km from camp
About 4 h
Spring to autumn only
Hardy's Dorset: Higher Bockhampton, Max Gate and Clouds Hill
275 XPVisit Thomas Hardy's Cottage at Higher Bockhampton, the thatched house where he was born in 1840
27 km from camp
About 5 h
Spring to autumn only
The Cerne Abbas Giant: 55 Metres of Chalk Man
200 XPLook up at the Giant from the viewpoint below the hill
26.4 km from camp
About 3 h
Finish the guide, earn 2,425 XP
9 challenges across 2 stops.