Walk 4 - Swanage

You can go steeply but directly up to Ballard Down, or make the shallower detour via Old Harry; then downhill all the way (in every sense!) to Swanage, with bus back. The last part of the walk, through the Swanage suburbs, is a little tedious. Outward journey: 45 minutes to Ballard Down by the direct route, otherwise 70 minutes; then 30 minutes for the descent.

Local Walks
Agglestone
Old Harry Rocks
Ballard Down
Swanage
Little Sea
Fishing Barrow
Rempstone Forest
Ower Quay
Corfe Castle

We walk to Swanage via Ballard Down, as described in Walk 3. If you want to get there extra fast, take the Glebeland route in reverse: i.e. at the main Studland cross-roads, go left downhill until you get to the junction with the stone cross, then take the lane past the farm to the right, skirting round the Glebeland Estate and then diagonally (and steeply) up Ballard Down to the cross-roads with the stone seat at the top.

There are several routes down from the ridge to Swanage. If you have come via Handfast Point, you can continue along the clifftop path after Ballard Point instead of veering right to the tumuli; this leads to a steep descent that requires some care because of loose ground underfoot and is not for the faint-hearted or less than agile: indeed there is a sign warning you off it. On the other hand it has good blackberry bushes. Further along is a similar but safer path that eventually joins the first one. (Both paths can also be reached by descending straight down from the tumuli.) At the end of the descent one arrives in farmland, on a winding path that eventually leads to a narrow bridge across a miniature ravine, then up some steps to a green fronting an unattractive housing estate. Following the little yellow arrows, navigate your way (straight on, then left, then right where it says ‘Dead Slow’) to its main entrance: from there the main road leads left and downwards through endless vistas of retirement homes, holiday flats and bed-and-breakfasts to Swanage Esplanade.

Follow it to the amusement arcade on the right opposite the curious ball-surmounted monument on the left, then turn sharp right: at the end of this street is the station, which also serves as the bus terminus. Here you can catch a 150 bus, which leaves at 25 past the hour on weekdays, and quarter to on Sundays and public holidays in the summer, and will drop you at the gate of K.H. in 14 minutes.

Yet another way down is to continue to the gate with the stone seat where the Glebeland path branches off to the right (see Walk 3); takes its continuation to the left that leads diagonally down the side of the ridge, then turns steeply downhill, eventually passing Whitecliff Farm on the left, continuing through a short but unpleasant wire-fenced section before joining the northern fringe of Swanage, very close to the route already described.

The further end of Swanage - towards and around the pier - has more to commend it than the nearer. If you have time to kill, it is worth penetrating inland to the heart of old Swanage, around the church. Blanchard’s (mostly second-hand) bookshop in Station Road is worth a visit, and has a good stock of titles of local interest (for instance, Sergeant Lawrence’s auto- biography: see Walk 2).

If you want to make a day of it, there are excellent walks beyond Swanage, to Durlston Head, and round the corner along Purbeck’s southernmost coast to St Aldhelm’s head via Blacker’s Hole, Dancing Ledge and Seacombe Cliff. A good plan is to take the 144 bus (rather infrequent) to the attractive village of Worth Matravers, and walk back from there. Or you could take the steam train to Corfe and back.