Friday 19 June 2026

Day 53 of walking
Swanage to South Haven
Distance: 11.63km
Total distance: 1018.70km
Climbing: 295m
Total climb: 32,797m

This was a perfect day for the last day of our South West Coast Path. We woke to a bit of mist but by the time breakfast was done this had burnt off to a lovely sunny windless day. A short day and an easy one. A gentle climb up Studland Hill, the only hill of the day, to a large grassy area known as Ballard Downs. The air was crystal clear today so we had a great view back over Swanage Bay, views over Studland Bay to Poole and Bournemouth and out over the Solent to the Isle of Wight. The Downs sloped gently down hill to Ballard Point and Handfast Point. This is an exhilarating section with vertical white chalk cliffs, off shore stacks, sea gulls and falcons soaring, and the Old Harry Rocks.

These are a trio of spectacular white chalk stacks and a stump. Thousands of years ago these stacks were part of a solid line of cliffs connecting to the famous chalk formations on the Isle of Wight known as ‘The Needles’. Relentless wave action eroded the softer chalk creating caves that eventually broke through to form arches. When the tops of these arches collapsed, they left isolated pillars of hard chalk—the sea stacks we saw today. A nearby stack known as “Old Harry’s Wife” crumbled into a stump during a severe storm. “Old Harry” is a traditional nickname for the Devil in English folklore. Legend claims the Devil once slept on the rocks.

From Old Harry it was an easy stroll down to Studland Bay with its sheltered sandy beaches and little wooden chalets. At Middle Beach we stopped for what was to be our last swim of this walk. Probably the best too, the water was warm, flat calm, no pebbles, and this part of the beach very quiet. It was here we had our coffee break and could look across the bay to Old Harry Rocks. From Middle Beach our walk was all along the beach amongst sun seekers, dog walkers, naked naturists and other day trippers to South Haven Point and the finish line.

There is a large blue metal sculpture at South Haven Point marking the official end (or the beginning) of the 630 mile path from Minehead. Fortunately there was a man willing to take our photo, although he didn’t seem to know much about the Coast Path. At South Haven there is a vehicle and pedestrian ferry that crosses the 375 metre wide entrance to Poole Harbour (the second largest natural harbour in the world) to Sandbanks. It takes about 4 minutes to cross. A ferry was about to leave so we hurried on board. Pedestrians going from South Haven to Sandbanks go for free. Pedestrians doing the reverse have to pay £1.18. Vehicles pay both ways.

The ferry is a “chain ferry”. Two heavy steel chains run along the harbour bed, spanning 1235 feet and are anchored at each end. The ferry has heavy duty on board drive wheels that grip the chains. The ferry’s motors turn the wheels winding the chain up and pulling the ferry across. Poole Harbour’s entrance is narrow and subject to extremely strong, rushing tides, a standard free-floating boat or ferry would struggle to dock accurately. The heavy steel chains guide the ferry safely across, maintaining a perfect trajectory directly onto the slipways despite the currents.

While waiting for our bus we ate our lunch on the Sandbanks foreshore and watched the ferry go back and forth. A return crossing takes 20 minutes, including loading and unloading cars, buses, trucks and pedestrians. It carries about 30 vehicles including the large double decker buses.

Our bus was a “Breezer” open top double decker, Route 60 into the Poole Bus Station, another £3 fare, and took about 20 minutes. We had front row seats on the top deck which sounds good but was a bit breezy and cool up there. Hence the name I guess. At the Poole Bus Station we checked out the National Express coach bus station we will use tomorrow to get back to London Heathrow. Our accommodation, The Acorn Guesthouse, was a half hour walk from the bus station into the depths of suburbia.We were warmly welcomed and it is comfortable enough but not in the least bit charming or interesting. Maybe a bit of a let down after some of the other wonderful 47 places we have stayed at in the last nine weeks. We needed to get some dinner but we seemed to be in the middle of a housing area with no shops. The landlady recommended the Toby Carvery a further 400 yards up the road. Maggie on MapMyWalk told us it was in fact 740 yards but it was well worth it. They basically serve roast meals all day, every day, pork, beef, gammon or turkey with a buffet of all you can eat vegetables, roast potatoes, carrots, beans, corn, cauliflower, Yorkshire pudding, ruffled roasties etc and all at very good prices. They have set prices for two or three course meals, we had the two course, a main and dessert. For dessert Barbara had apple crumble with cream and I had it with custard. Our waitress was having a little difficulty with our accents. We thought we had ordered a glass of red I Heart Shiraz from Spain but ended up with a glass of white I Heart Chardonnay from Chile. We didn’t complain, just laughed it off as another of those funny misunderstandings we have had over the last nine weeks.

The last day is always one of mixed emotions, Certainly a feeling of having “knocked the bugger off” as Sir Edmund Hillary said after conquering Mount Everest. Incidentally we did almost four Mt Everests of climbing and we didn’t use supplemental oxygen as Hillary did! We are glad and proud we have walked and finished Britain’s longest and finest footpath.

It is also a bit of a sad day. Life has been so simple for the last nine weeks. Eat, walk, sleep. I didn’t want it to end. Right now I would happily turn around and walk all the way back to Minehead, or maybe carry on and walk King Charles newly opened England Coast Path. Barbara doesn’t feel quite the same way, she is ready to go home to family and friends. Alfred Wainwright at the end of his walk on the Pennine Way said: “You have completed a mission and satisfied an ambition. You have walked the Pennine Way, as you have dreamed of doing. This will be a very satisfying moment in your life. You will be tired and hungry and travel stained. But you will feel, great, just great.” Substitute South West Coast Path for Pennine Way and that is us.