Nine Barrow Down: Corfe Castle to Swanage

A 6.6-mile linear traverse of the Purbeck chalk ridge, three and a half hours with 300 metres of climb, following the bronze age barrow cemetery from above Corfe over Godlingston Hill and dropping into Swanage at Ulwell. All ridge turf and chalk track, no shelter and no water, with the best long view in Dorset in both directions at once. Start at the National Trust car park in Corfe and finish at Swanage, using the number 40 bus back, which takes dogs free; check the timetable first, as evening services thin out. Sheep graze most of the ridge so leads through the fields, several stiles will need a big dog lifting, and the chalk turf gets slippery enough on the Ulwell descent to be worth care.