Walking the South West Coast Path Through Dorset

At 630 miles, the South West Coast Path is the longest National Trail in England. The sections through Dorset, from Lyme Regis in the west to Poole Harbour in the east, pass through landscapes of exceptional beauty and geological significance. A guide to walking this remarkable stretch of English coastline.

The South West Coast Path begins — or ends, depending on your direction of travel — at Minehead in Somerset and traces the entire coastline of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall before turning east along the Dorset shore to finish at Poole Harbour. The Dorset section, which accounts for roughly seventy-five miles of the total, is in many respects the most varied and geologically dramatic stretch of the whole trail. It also contains the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, the first in England to be designated on natural grounds.

Lyme Regis marks the eastern end of the Devon stretch and the beginning of the Dorset coast. For walkers heading east along the path, the town is both a natural staging post and a reward: a place to rest, eat, and appreciate the harbour before tackling the serious climbing that lies ahead. For those starting in Dorset and heading west, Lyme is an excellent beginning, with good transport links and plenty of accommodation.

From Lyme Regis to Charmouth

The first section east from Lyme Regis is relatively gentle but immediately impressive. The path climbs above the town onto the cliffs and quickly opens up views back across the bay, with the Cobb curving below and the Devon coastline receding into haze to the west. The cliffs here — a mix of limestone and dark shale — are the same strata that provided Mary Anning with her famous fossil finds, and fragments of ammonite and belemnite can often be spotted in fallen material on the beach below.

The distance from Lyme Regis to Charmouth is just over three miles, and the path is generally good underfoot in dry conditions. Charmouth itself is a quiet village with a small museum dedicated to its fossil-rich beach, a beach cafe, and a pub. The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre runs guided fossil walks in summer that use this same stretch of shore. It is a useful stopping point before the more demanding terrain that follows.

Golden Cap and the highest point on the south coast

East of Charmouth, the path rises steeply to the summit of Golden Cap, at 191 metres the highest cliff on the south coast of England. The ascent is demanding but the reward is considerable: on a clear day the views extend from Start Point in Devon to Portland Bill in Dorset, a panorama that takes in the full width of Lyme Bay and gives a genuine sense of the scale of the Jurassic Coast.

The golden colour that gives the cap its name comes from a capping layer of Greensand, a yellow-brown sandstone that sits on top of the dark Jurassic cliffs below. The National Trust owns much of the cliff top and the farmland behind it, and the approach to the summit passes through a landscape of meadow and heath that is managed partly for its wildlife value. The views from the top are worth every metre of the climb, and the descent to Seatown, a tiny hamlet with a pub on the shingle, is a welcome reward.

Bridport, West Bay, and the fossil forest

From Seatown the path continues to West Bay, the harbour town at the mouth of the River Brit, which has become better known in recent years through its appearance in crime dramas filmed on location along this stretch of coast. The great golden cliffs of East Cliff at West Bay are composed of Bridport Sandstone, a pale buff rock that erodes dramatically to leave near-vertical faces rising directly from the beach. These cliffs are unstable and should not be approached closely at their base.

Further east, the path passes the extraordinary fossil forest at Lulworth Cove, where the stumps and rings of ancient cypress trees that grew on the shoreline of a Jurassic lagoon some 135 million years ago are preserved in the limestone. This is one of the most unusual geological features on the entire coast, and it is easy to walk past without noticing: the stumps are low and heavily weathered, and they require some geological knowledge to identify correctly. Interpretation boards at the site help.

Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove

The western end of the Purbeck section contains what are arguably the two most photographed features on the entire Jurassic Coast. Durdle Door is a natural limestone arch cut through a headland by wave action, its great span framing a view of turquoise water and shingle beach that appears on countless postcards. Lulworth Cove, a short walk further east, is a near-perfect circular bay scooped out of the chalk and limestone by erosion working along the grain of the rock. Both are extremely popular with visitors in summer and can feel crowded at peak times; early morning or late afternoon in the shoulder seasons are considerably more rewarding for walkers who want the scenery without the crowds.

The path between the two requires some careful navigation in places, particularly the descent to the cove, which has been heavily eroded by visitor traffic and requires attention in wet weather. The village of West Lulworth, just inland from the cove, provides refreshments and accommodation, and the Lulworth Estate visitor centre has good displays on the local geology and military heritage of the area.

Practical information for walkers

The Dorset section of the South West Coast Path is well signed and marked throughout, using the acorn waymark symbol of the National Trails. The South West Coast Path Association publishes detailed route guides, updated annually, that include accommodation listings, transport connections, and information on tide times for sections where timing matters. Their website also provides information on any diversions in force due to cliff falls or path maintenance.

OS Explorer maps 116 (Lyme Regis and Bridport) and OL15 (Purbeck) cover most of the Dorset section and should be carried in preference to relying on a phone signal alone. The coastal path can be exposed and the weather on the south coast of England changes quickly; appropriate clothing and footwear are not optional for any section longer than a gentle stroll. For those who want to walk the full Dorset section but cannot complete it in one trip, the path can be divided into day sections accessible by bus from Lyme Regis, Bridport, Swanage, or Poole, many of them using the excellent Jurassic Coaster bus service that links the main coastal towns in summer.

Walking for a cause

The South West Coast Path has become a popular route for sponsored walks and fundraising challenges, and several local charities and community organisations in Dorset organise regular walk events along sections of the trail. The combination of spectacular scenery, manageable day-walk distances, and the genuine sense of achievement that comes from covering challenging terrain on foot makes it an ideal setting for fundraising. If you are looking for a meaningful physical challenge that benefits a good cause and takes you through some of England’s most dramatic coastal scenery, you could do considerably worse than this seventy-five-mile stretch of Dorset shore.