So having canned the plan to walk around Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove, we woke late to glorious sunshine, a quickly hatched plan meant we would drive a short distance towards home, walk and then carry on from there. I’d previously walked as far as a caravan/camping park at Burton Bradstock, so the plan was to carry on from there and walk as far as West Bexington before finding a decent route back. The drive along the B3157 was glorious, great views along the coast and the village of Abbotsbury looks to be a real gem, and one to look forward to in the future. On this walk the high cliffs at Burton are superb before you drop down to a lovely beach. At this point you arrive at the shingles of Cogden Beach, make sure you watch were the path goes, don’t get drawn towards the sea as we did as the path is inland of Burton Mere and you can’t get back to the path once you start out along the beach, meaning at least a mile of calf crunching shingle walking. Not much fun. The last half mile into West Bexington is also on this stuff so if you have already done a mile on it then you will be cursing, as we were. The views back down from the road to Swyre are lovely and the whole of Lyme Bay is below you. Another lovely part of the world and the coastal path.
Start – Burton Bradstock
Route –South West Coastal Path – Burton Cliffs – Southover – Cogden Beach – Burton Mere – West Bexington – Swyre – Berwick – Modbury Farm – Burton Bradstock
Distance – 9.5 miles Start time – 11.50am Time taken – 5hrs 15mins Highest Point – Swyre 90 metres
Start of the walk and walking through Burton Bradstock, behind me to the right is a field which leads down to the large camping site and the beach/coastal pathWhere the River Bride empties into the sea, I’d walked the cliffs over there some time ago with the boys (here) after we’d been to the tank museum. As you can see from the weather it has changed somewhat from Friday’s rain forecastCamping park on the right, the East Cliff beyond which leads to West Bay. Golden Cap away in the distanceInland over Burton BradstockWe are on Burton Cliffs here, vertiginous stuffOut to seaIt was lovely walking along here, aware that it won’t take much before lots of these cliffs will disappear into the seaBurton Beach below, car park and refreshments here should you need themLinda heading down to Cogden Beach, we should have stuck to a left hand path which keeps you off the beach, and for good reason, there is 2 miles of soft shingle beach between here and West Bexington and any opportunity to walk a grassy path needs to be takenIt was tough walking across here, calf muscles were challenged on this sectionA short section of grassy path, this is the path inland of Burton Mere and the one we should have been onClouded Yellow butterflyBefore too long the path came back on the beach and we wished for the end and our turn inland. For now we just had to enjoy the amazing views along and around Lyme BayAt West Bexington now, however this is the view along the next section which looks like the same as what we had just walked!Climbing up the road to Swyre and the ever improving views out to seaWhite fluffy clouds above Lyme BayFor some reason there were loads of lambs in a field, in October! Holy Trinity Church in SwyreBefore too long we were on the long quiet lane back towards Burton BradstockCrossing fields to cross the River BrideAnd finally St Mary’s church in Burton Bradstock at the end of a stunning walk, with some of the best weather I’ve walked in this year. Whether this walk make my end of year lists will depend on how much I remember that shingle beach section, which was just purgatory at times
Another superb walk, looks like you had a pretty decent weekend away. The south coast is somewhere I know pretty well nothing about. Other than the odd hour or two I’ve not been anywhere between Falmouth and Dover!
treksandtors 
Burton Cliffs are impressive.
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Wow, the coastline and cliffs are so pretty!
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Loving the coastal walking at the moment, love the sound of the sea against the rocks below
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Another superb walk, looks like you had a pretty decent weekend away. The south coast is somewhere I know pretty well nothing about. Other than the odd hour or two I’ve not been anywhere between Falmouth and Dover!
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The south coast of Devon around Prawle Point along to Mothecombe is a fantastic section of coast
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