Whew! Another big day. The original plan was just to walk to Abbotsbury but there’s rain forecast for tomorrow and I’ve read the next section can get very muddy as it’s thru fields and farms so I decided to knock off a few additional miles.

The morning started on a diversion due to landslips. The photo below shows where the Path starts in West Bay; can’t say I’m disappointed to miss that climb! (there’s been 2 more big slips since).

Instead, I started by walking through another golf course. This had golfers on it so I had to keep my eyes peeled. After I went through another holiday park, then eventually made it out to the coast. The walk was brilliant for a mile or so but then I encountered the dreaded shingle. Shingle= a beach covered in a deep layer of small, round pebbles. Think no traction, or two steps forward and one step back. I worried about the popped ligaments in my knee but they survived.

The first section of shingle was just a 1/2 mile or so, then there was the “summer route” into the neighboring fields that saved a couple of miles of trudging.

However, after the town of West Bexington it was back on the shingle with no relief for .7 endless miles. Gradually a road firmed up along the inner edge of the beach then a mile and a half of tarmac walking between the coast and the fields before reaching Abbotsbury.

At Abbotsbury I had a nice Cream Tea lunch and as I was still feeling good and as it was a glorious day for walking, I thought to continue on.

After almost 4 miles of inland walking through various types of fields the Path finally returned to the water. This is “The Fleet” an 8 mile long tidal lagoon which is protected as a nature reserve. I managed to tick off 3 more miles alongside it before heading inland to Chickerell and my bus to Weymouth.

I’m booked in for 3 nights into an old-school English pub. My room is a suite; dated furniture but huge so I’ll be comfy if I’m rained out tomorrow . By knocking off a significant amount of tomorrow’s stage I only have 2-3 hours walking to do so maybe I can time it to stay dry!