The Great Outdoors – August 2019

Always take a map and compass with you.©Crown copyright 2019 Ordnance Survey. Media 051/19

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1 Start/Finish

Car park on minor road

just north of Steeple

GR: SY903817

Take the bridleway at the east

end of the car park to drop to

the road, continuing downhill to

find the track leading through

Steeple Leaze Farm and up to the

ridge path.

2

Follow the clearly marked

path west, and fork R to

Tyneham about 400m after the

junction with the path to

Kimmeridge Bay.

3

Explore the village, then

beyond the church follow a

clear track NW up to the ridge

path, turning left.

The Tyneham Valley

Dorset ENGLAND

17.4km/10.8 miles/5 hours

Ascent 570m/1870ft^9

IN NOVEMBER 1943,

the inhabitants of a small

valley near the Dorset coast

received letters from the

government. They had 32

days to vacate their homes.

With D-Day in the offing,

the Army needed the land

to train troops. Not that

any details were given at

the time, of course. The

residents were however

promised that the land

and their homes would be

returned after the war.

That never happened.

All this leaves a sad

and poignant tale, and a

collection of abandoned

properties set in a landscape

that has remained largely

unaltered in 75 years. The

village and surrounding

4

Immediately after entering

Flower’s Barrow hillfort,

find a slot in the defensive bank to

the L to drop to Worbarrow Bay.

Beyond the beach follow a clear

path up along the top of the cliff,

leaving the path to turn R (signed

Kimmeridge Bay) to follow the

Coast Path for 3.5km to

Kimmeridge Bay.

5

As you meet the gated

exit to the firing range

(SY904792), turn L to follow the

field edge, climbing to rejoin the

ridge path, and return to the car

park along the outward route.

Gradient profile Metres above sea level

Tim Gent visits

an abandoned

village

The Great OutdoorsAugust 2019 103