The coast path loop

Walk 9 on the South West Coast Path website is a circular from the Chesil Beach car park at the end of Buller's Way. It is 5.9 miles, 9.5 km, and the path grades it challenging: generally flat with one long climb. It follows the back of Chesil Bank along the Fleet to the Swannery, comes through the village past the chapel, then climbs to Abbotsbury Castle on the South Dorset Ridgeway and comes back down over the fields on the seaward side of the ridge to the start.

What you get for it: the Fleet with the swans on it, the Swannery gate if you want to break the walk, the village for lunch, the chapel on its hill, and from the hillfort the whole of Lyme Bay. The climb out of the village goes by Blind Lane, a sunken lane worn into the hill, and there is a steep pull past a small cliff on the way up.

Allow half a day. Boots rather than trainers, for the climb and the shingle. The path crosses working farmland, so dogs on leads near livestock; Abbotsbury beach itself is dog friendly. Toilets at the beach car park and on Back Street in the village; food in the village and at the Chesil Beach Café by the car park, March to October. Start postcode DT3 4LA.

The X53 stops in the village, so you can arrive by bus, walk the loop from the village instead of the car park, and get the bus back. Do the ridge first if the weather is coming in, and the beach last.

South West Coast Path, walk 9: Abbotsbury Castle, Visit Dorset, Abbotsbury Beach and the Fleet