St Aldhelm’s Head and Chapman’s Pool

A 4.8-mile circuit in two and three quarter hours with 320 metres of climb, dropping to the shingle of Chapman’s Pool, climbing the coastguard steps to the Norman chapel on St Aldhelm’s Head and returning by the quarry at Winspit. Steep grass, a long flight of open steps and stony quarry tracks, tough on paws and hard work in wind. Start at the Worth Matravers village car park, paid, roughly fifty spaces with toilets, and the only parking in the village: the lanes are yellow-lined and the Square and Compass gets the rest. Cattle graze the coastal fields, leads through them, and there is water for a dog in the pub yard at the finish.