Chesil Beach at Abbotsbury
The great shingle bar running east from Abbotsbury with the Fleet lagoon behind it, eighteen miles of pebbles graded by the sea. Dorset Council allows dogs all year from Abbotsbury to the Tank Teeth boundary; beyond that, towards Portland, dogs are allowed on leads on the seaward flank from 1 September to 30 April and there is no public access at all outside those dates. The Fleet shoreline itself is closed, so keep to the coast path.
St Catherine’s Chapel and the Fleet, Abbotsbury
3.2 MI · 1H 45M · 78% OFF-ROADThree and a bit miles in about an hour and three quarters, climbing the strip lynchets to the lone 14th-century chapel on Chapel Hill and dropping to the reed edge of the Fleet before returning through the village. Steep close-cropped turf on the hill, a stony track along the bottom and a half mile of pavement past the thatch. Use the village pay and display on Rodden Row, which is small at around 60 spaces and the only sensible parking; the Swannery car park is separate and seasonal. Sheep graze Chapel Hill so leads are needed there, the chapel itself is an English Heritage shell with dogs on leads welcome, and the Fleet is a nature reserve where dogs must stay on the marked track and out of the water.
West Bexington to Abbotsbury along Chesil
7.4 MI · 3H 30M · 94% OFF-ROADA 7.4-mile there-and-back day behind the Chesil bank, three and a half hours on flat shingle track and reed-fringed field path with barely 90 metres of climb, and the whole eighteen-mile pebble bar stretching away to Portland. Start at the West Bexington beach car park, a Dorset Council pay and display of about 80 spaces at the end of a dead-end lane, which is windy, exposed and rarely full. There is no shade and no fresh water on the route, the shingle is punishing on soft pads, and the seaward side of Chesil beyond the Abbotsbury tank teeth boundary is closed to the public entirely from 1 May to 31 August to protect the tern colony, so the summer version of this walk stays on the landward path.