Publisher's Synopsis
Walks in to Enjoy in Dorset - fifteen walks for you to enjoy by yourself, with your dog, family or friends. Detailed walk information including maps and photographs with historical notes and easy to follow descriptions. All but one walk is circular and range in length and difficulty. The linear walk is completed by taking the train from Swanage back to the walk start at Corfe Castle.
Forde Abbey
Golden Cap
Abbotsbury Hills and Coast
Thomas Hardy Trail
Portland Lighthouses
Dorchester Town Trail
Dorchester Riverside and Farm Trail
The White Horse
Shaftesbury and Gold Hill
Melbury Beacon and Downs
Lawrence of Arabia Trail
Durdle Doory and Swyre Head
Lulworth Cove and the Fossil Forest
Wareham Walls and Rivers
Corfe Castle to Swanage
The sketch maps accompanying each walking guide are based on the GPS route data, and they are included to give the reader a map reference to use in conjunction with the text and photographs. However, for the benefit of a proper map, we recommend that you purchase the Ordnance Survey map covering the area of the walk.
Dorset is one of the oldest and most beautiful shires often known best to people through the immortalised novels of Thomas Hardy.
Dorset has a long history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. At the time of the Roman invasion in AD 43 the local tribe was the Durotriges. Their fortress of Maiden castle was stormed by Vespasian's second legion, and nearby Dorchester developed as the Roman town of Durnovaria. During the early Middle Ages, the Saxons settled the area and made Dorset a shire in the 7th century. The first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the 8th century and the black death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. Dorset has seen much civil unrest: during the English Civil War an uprising of vigilantes was crushed by Cromwell's forces in a pitched battle near Shaftesbury; the Duke of Monmouth's doomed rebellion began at Lyme Regis; and a group of farm labourers from Tolpuddle were instrumental in the formation of the trade union movement. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy and the large harbours of Portland and Poole were two of the main embarkation points on D-Day.
