So I’ve completed a few walks over the years that have had plenty of insects, mainly butterflies, in the pictures. I make no excuses for the next three or four walks, where they will be inundated with butterfly pictures. This walk on the Dorset coast extends my coastal path efforts further east, pushing it towards Weymouth, with the next one further east still. It is an area well served by butterflies of all types, and the Marbled White was an ever present throughout this 8.5 miles route, which headed uphill and inland first, before dropping to the sea and the beach walk to Abbotsbury. We have previous with this beach and the section from Burton Bradstock to West Bexington, where we encountered the shingle beach and struggled to cross as our feet constantly sank, a horrible section of the path. However we set off from Abbotsbury with hope, but a little concern, that the path could be better. We started to climb quickly up on to the South Dorset Ridgeway, a high area close to the sea, giving fantastic views inland as well as along the coast, to Golden Cap and Lyme Regis one way and Portland the other. We next walked through the Abbotsbury Castle/Fort and iron age hillfort, providing a good defensive position on the chalk hills overlooking the English channel. We crossed the B3157 and dropped down a little, passing through fields and bushes before finally popping out in West Bexington and the start of the beach. The first few steps on shingle had the same effect as the previous walk, our heart sank a little, but after a few hundred metres we found an old path to the rear of the beach. We had some hope. The track continued, on grass, then gravel and finally tarmac all the way to Abbotsbury. We decided to pop up Chapel Hill to see the chapel on top, this turned out to be a tough slog at the end of the walk, but worth the effort to see inside the old chapel which was attached to the priory (before Henry 8th broke it all up). We finally headed for the church below, before parking our bums on a pub bench for a well deserved refreshment. A brilliant walk and one where I have captured 9 different types of butterfly, but saw at least 4 more in Small and Large Whites, Red Admiral and a Speckled Wood.

Start – Abbotsbury

Route – Wears Hill – Abbotsbury Castle and trig – Tulk’s Hill – Limekiln Hill – West Bexington – South West Coastal Path – Burton Road – Chapel Hill – St Catherine’s Chapel – St Nicholas’ Church – Abbotsbury

Distance – 8.5 miles   Start time – 10.50am  Time taken – 5hrs 30mins  Highest Point – Abbotsbury Castle 215 metres

Weather – Cloudy to start and hot sunshine to finish