Short walk at Abbotsbury

Of course, it's all relative. A short walk to us is anything shorter than 10 miles; to some people, a short walk may be anything between 100 yards and 2 miles, whilst we know some people who would perhaps consider anything under 20 miles a short walk. At any rate, in this case, our 'short' walk was 7.5 miles on a beautiful late November day.

I had decided I'd like to explore Abbotsbury. Really, I'd wanted to go the day before on St Catherine's Day but, having discovered that the special service for St Catherine's Day had been held the Sunday before, and not on the actual St Catherine's Day, we decided to go on the day with the better forecast instead.

We'd been several times before, but the only time we'd been up St Catherine's Hill we hadn't ventured inside the chapel. So this was to be our first time. At first I was disappointed, deciding that this barrel-vaulted 14th century chapel was much better viewed externally where it draws the eye from miles around.

St Catherine's Chapel - SY5784

There is not much to see in the interior, but it was here that maidens came to beseech St Catherine, their patron saint, for a husband. Legend has it that there are two hand holds in the south entrance to the chapel with a ledge for the knee where maidens repeated a prayer along the lines of:

'A husband, St Catherine. A handsome one, St Catherine. A rich one, St Catherine, A nice one, St Catherine, And soon, St Catherine.'

P J Harvey, who lives locally, wrote a song about St Catherine, 'The Wind' and apparently came to sing in the chapel. I did discover that the acoustics were good here and wrote my own poem about the patron saint and this particular legend and recorded it on my phone on my next visit.

Having contemplated the patron saint, we left the chapel and admired the strip lynchets on the hill to the west, which was the direction we were now going to walk in the hope of 'filling in a gap' left from previous walks on this stretch of coastline.

Strip lynchets - SY5684

There wasn't much opportunity to get a photo in the next two gridsquares, but some unusual cottages provided a chance.

Cottages on the south-west coast path near Abbotsbury  - SY5584

Lawrence's Cottage with cirrus clouds - SY5585

We ventured onto Chesil beach for the next square - and our lunch, choosing the relative shelter of an old World War 2 pill box to eat our picnic.

Pill box on Chesil Beach - SY5485

The old coastguard cottages here have some amusing names. I wonder whether there's a story here.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - SY5485

We didn't really need to go into the next gridsquare before turning north as we had forgotten about the permissive path which leads up to the most beautifully named farm I think I've come across, 'Labour in Vain'. However, needs must! If I didn't walk those few gratuitous steps now, when would I be motivated to do so again?

Coast path near West Bexington - SY5385

We turned northwards now, past a World War 2 gun emplacement and up Long Gully, which is appropriately named!

World War 2 gun emplacement near West Bexington on Long Gully - SY5485

I was disappointed not to see a sign for Labour-in-Vain Farm; perhaps there is one on the other side.

Labour-in-Vain Farm - SY5486

The long, hard slog now became even steeper as we ascended Turk's Hill to the B3157. From here, the distinct profile of Abbostbury Castle, an ancient fort, can be appreciated. 'This would be my choice of fort if I'd lived in those days,' I told Paul

Abbotsbury Castle - SY5586

Although we had walked this part of the south-west coast path before, it had been an incredibly windy day with a large group, so we didn't have a good, unobstructed view of Abbotsbury Castle trigpoint. All on our own today, and with clear views, we got a better photo.

Abbotsbury Castle trigpoint - SY5586

We passed another military relic - this time in the form of an ROC post, or nuclear bunker as I kept calling it. Once open to the public, it has now been well and truly closed off so you can't go down and see the bunk beds and 'stuff''.

ROC post at Abbotsbury Castle - SY5686

Then some ancient history - some tumuli, a reminder that the ridgeway has been used throughout the centuries as a place of defence and burial.

Tumulus, Abbotsbury Castle - SY5686

We were nearly back to our starting point now and had wonderful views of the Fleet and St Catherine's Chapel with a small loch in the foreground.

St Catherine's Chapel and The Fleet with small loch - SY5786

This marked our southwards turning point back to Abbotsbury.

Abbotsbury from the south-west coast path - SY5785

We visited St Nicholas' Church and learned of the marks of the Civil War which are left there in the bullet holes in the pulpit.

Bullet holes from the Civil War on the pulpit in St Nicholas' Church, Abbotsbury - SY5785

St Nicholas' Church, Abbotsbury - SY5785

Watching the descent of the sun over such an inspirational landmark was a fitting end to our day's walk and contemplation.

St Catherine's Hill and Chapel at sunset, from St Nicholas' Church, Abbotsbury - SY5785

Number of new gridsquares - 11
Number of trigpoints - 1
Number of bullet holes - 2
Number of war reminders - 4
Number of miles walked - 7.5
Number of pieces of cake consumed at end of walk - 2
Number of churches - 2