Tuesday 16 June 2026

Day 50 of walking
Abbotsbury to Weymouth
Distance: 16.35km
Total distance: 977.12km
Climbing: 291m
Total climb: 31,619m

We feel we made the right decision to shorten today’s 24 plus km down to 16 plus km by taking the bus from Abbotsbury to Chickerell. It made for a nice walk of a comfortable length, a good path, no big climbs, warm but not hot, no wind and interesting in a few different ways. Because there are so few buses on this route we were at the bus stop a good 20 minutes early to make sure we didn’t miss it. A full-size double decker, route X53 to Weymouth by First Bus, arrived on schedule and in 15 minutes whisked us down a narrow secondary road to the small village of Chickerell. The way these large buses navigate tight roads and small villages is amazing.

At Chickerell we walked about half a kilometre down a quiet country road and then a public path over a field to rejoin the Coast Path at the Fleet. We had chosen Chickerell because it is the closest point the bus route gets to the Path. On the public path to the Coast Path we came across a tiny stone church in the hamlet of Fleet. The Doomsday Book of 1086 mentions a church on this site and a survey of 1552 records a church with a tower and two bells. In the great storm of 1824 the church suffered badly when the Chesil Beach shingle barrier was breached and huge waves crossed the Fleet lagoon. The tower and nave of the church were demolished and all that remains today is a tiny church and a few grave stones. A new church was built further inland.

The Fleet is a nature reserve, a great expanse of lagoon water separating the land from the pebble ridge of Chesil Beach. The ridge is so high that walking around the shore of the lagoon you cannot see, and are unaware of, the sea on the other side. The walk was easy, mostly flat, farm land on one side and the lagoon with its bird life and a few boats on the other. We passed a couple of modest sized holiday parks, walked through a military firing range (no red flags flying today), around a military training centre with its high fence and razor wire, and across a short stretch of the muddy Fleet itself. Fortunately the tide was out.

The 29km long Fleet ends (or begins) at Ferry Bridge where it connects to Portland Harbour. Ferry Bridge is the start of the long causeway that connects the Isle of Portland to the mainland. We are not going out to the Isle this trip as we did a full one-day circuit of it in 2023. We stopped for our coffee break at Ferry Bridge. It is still another 5 kilometres to Weymouth the first part along a flat straight former railway line along the coast. The path then climbs up through some very, very, expensive suburban real estate before dropping back down to the coast onto a concrete sea wall. This leads to the massive Victorian Fort Nothe, guarding the entrance to the harbour and the River Wey, through Nothe Gardens, and suddenly you are in Weymouth alongside the river.

Weymouth is probably my favourite town on the South West Coast Path. It has the old harbour, full of fishing boats, ferries, day excursion boats and luxury yachts and the river is lined with a lovely collection of old buildings now housing bars, cafes, restaurants and the like. Leading from the river is the old town with a maze of narrow streets and lanes full of an amazing range of shops. Then a great sweep of sand and a promenade with arcades and fairground rides, fronted with Georgean houses. We swam at the beach in 2023 so I wanted to go and swim again. The weather had turned overcast, the wind had got up and it was a bit cooler. In the miles and miles of beach front I was the only person in swimming. Even the life guards had packed it in and gone home.

We are staying at the Red Cliff B & B which is about 2 kilometres along the beach from the river, on the way out of town. We didn’t want to have to walk back into the town for dinner so had lunch in the Old Rooms Inn on the river bank.  Not counting the hamburgers there were only five mains on the menu and two of those were “off”. Barbara: Hand battered Atlantic cod, with chips and garden peas. Me: Rainbow grain salad, mixed grains and salad leaves, topped with cucumber, baby tomatoes, roasted peppers and red onions, drizzled with French dressing and a topping of grilled chicken breast. This is the reverse of normal. Barbara is usually into the grain salad. For the second time this trip we had dessert: Bramley apple crumble with custard.