Walk · Dorset

Thorncombe Beacon and Eype from West Bay

West Bay
Eype A35 River Brit N 880 YD © OpenStreetMap contributors
4.6MILES
2h 30mON FOOT
260mCLIMB
CircularSHAPE
The route A-road B-road Lane Track Path Water Woodland
Off-road 82% 18% shares tarmac with cars
Field & moor path 60%Lane & track 22%Road with traffic 18%

Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill.

Starts at
West Bay harbour pay and display, beside the Salt House
Parking
Pay and display, several hundred spaces across two car parks, still full by 11am in the school holidays
Directions to the start →

A 4.6-mile circuit west from the harbour over Eype Mouth to the beacon at 157 metres, roughly two and a half hours with 260 metres of sharp up and down on turf. The return is by field paths and a quiet lane through Eype village rather than retracing the cliff. Park in the main West Bay pay and display beside the harbour, which is large but the busiest car park in west Dorset on a hot day; the clifftop is entirely unfenced with vertical sandstone drops, sheep graze the Eype Down fields, and dogs can only get to the sea at West Bay east beach outside the summer restriction.

THE SMALL PRINTUnfenced clifftop the whole coastal section, with sheep grazing above Eype: leads through stock fields. West Bay beach dog restrictions run 1 May to 30 September under the Dorset Council order, with dogs allowed in the port area on a lead.

House rules, decoded

Off-lead OK
Livestock — leads on
REGION · DORSET
GRID · 50.7110, -2.7620
SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.KOMOOT.COM/GUIDE/673611/HIKING-IN-WEST-DORSET
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