On Saturday I took the train to Wareham and then walked to Swanage. From the station I headed south into the pretty centre of Wareham and onwards to the bridge over the River Frome and crossed the river via the bridge then turned left along the Purbeck Way and Hardy Way alongside the river, with fine views back to the pretty quay.
In about a mile I forked off left at the boat club into the village of Ridge which is indeed up a slight ridge. At the eastern side of the village I joined the Poole Harbour Trail to head south over Stoborough Heath on the old tramway. The first part had meadows with grazing horses alongside, later more open heathland. The Poole Harbour Trial forks off to the left at some point (I didn't notice where) but I continued on the old tramway to the A351. Crossing this I took the track ahead which turned out to be an exit road from the Blue Pool (a nearby tourist attraction). I continued on this until passing under the Swanage Railway and then turned right on a wooded bridleway down to the minor road and turned left through the hamlet of Furzebrook.
In about 1/4 of a mile I turned off on the Purbeck Way along the access road to the Blue Pool (this is also a footpath) and continued ahead past the entrance and into the open heathland, forking half right with the Purbeck Way. I continued on the Purbeck Way through some woodland and then along the bottom of the Purbeck Ridge towards Corfe Castle, soon reaching the beautiful castle and equally pretty village. I followed the path around the south side of the castle to the A351, turned left and then took the first right, going under the railway bridge (and hear saw a steam service waiting at Corfe Castle station) then immediately turned left up steps to East Hill (this is a permissive path, not marked on the map) for the steep climb up to the top of the Purbeck Ridge.
After the climb I was rewarded with wonderful views over the castle, village and station. I now followed the ridge-top path all along the ridge heading east towards Ulwell and Swanage. The views soon opened out on both sides with fine views over the rolling Purbeck Hills to my right and Poole Harbour to my left and soon the sea ahead. At Ulwell you have to drop down to cross the road then climbed back up to the obelisk and continued on the path along the top of the ridge until I reached the coast.
There are lovely views of Swanage Bay and the fine sandy beach here and I initially followed the coast path towards the town, now descending for the last time.As you near New Swanage I took a path to the left, down some slightly woobly steps to the beach since this is a much nicer walk than the coast path (which goes on a meander around a housing estate) when the tide is out, which it was. Soon I was able to join the promenade and continued to the Mowlem Theatre on the sea front. Swanage was busy with many taking advantage of the fine weather.
I then headed inland to Swanage station and arrived in time to take the last train of the day back to Wareham as this service runs on a Sunday. A very pleasant run back on the Class 117. We passed a steam service at Harmans Cross and another wait at Corfe Castle (the service isn't fast!). By the time we left Nordon for Wareham the train was pretty well loaded, which was good to see. We were held at the last signal before the main line to wait for a late-running west-bound SWR service then a brief run along the mainline (on what is normally the west-bound line) to Wareham arriving a couple of minutes late.
The SWR service seemed in a state of chaos with trains going west over an hour late, but fortunately for me I was going east and the trains in that direction were running on time.
A wonderful walk in one of my favourite areas and I was also very lucky with the weather which was mostly unbroken sunshine.
My photos from the walk :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/joncombe/albums/72177720308496428