Our drawing of the route — the shape of the walk, not a navigation aid. Carry OS Explorer on the hill.
A level 2.4-mile hour round the bay from the town car park along the whole seafront to the pier and out to the ledges at Peveril Point, back through the old town by Church Hill and the mill pond. Promenade, shore path and a short grass headland, barely 40 metres of climb, and the one Swanage walk that works in any weather at any tide. Start at the Broad Road pay and display, roughly 150 spaces two minutes from the sand, with Swanage on the number 40 bus and the steam railway from Norden. Dogs are excluded from the central beach between 1 May and 30 September under the Dorset Council order, but the northern end past the sailing club and the Peveril ledges stay open, and the ledges give safe shallow rock pools for a paddle; leads on the promenade and the pier approach.
The big Purbeck day: 7.2 miles and 320 metres of climb in about four hours, up the chalk spine of Ballard Down, out to Old Harry, down to Studland village and back over the top, with the Isle of Wight visible on a clear morning. Turf and chalk paths throughout, greasy and slick when wet, with a long stepped descent into Studland. Start from the Broad Road or North Beach pay and display in Swanage, or take the number 50 open-top bus and walk it one way to Studland; the town car parks are metered and full by mid-morning in season. Sheep and cattle graze Ballard Down, so leads across the grazing, and the entire seaward edge from Ballard Point to Handfast is unfenced crumbling chalk with a 100-metre drop.
Two hundred and eighty acres of clifftop downland and National Nature Reserve above Swanage, with the Victorian Great Globe and a castle turned visitor centre and cafe. Well-behaved dogs are welcome in the Castle, the visitor centre and the cafe as long as they are on a short lead, and there are water bowls outside the Castle and Learning Centre. The park asks that dogs stay on the paths, and sells dog treats and ice cream in the shop.
A 3.2-mile hour-and-three-quarter loop round a national nature reserve, past the Great Globe, along the cliff above Tilly Whim Caves to the lighthouse at Anvil Point, then back inland through limestone meadow. Good stone paths and steps, 130 metres of climb, and guillemots on the ledges below from March to July. Start from the Durlston Country Park car park at the top of Lighthouse Road: £1 an hour to £3 all day in winter, coins preferred because the card machine struggles for signal. Cattle graze the meadows with electric fencing when they do, the whole clifftop is unfenced above a big drop, and the park keeps water bowls by the castle and the learning centre with dog treats and bags in the shop.
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