Crossways/Moreton to Dorchester, Dorset

Date: 2012-07-05

From: Crossways/Moreton

Region: South Dorset

Walk :  Linear

OS Sheet: Explorer OL15

Parking at: Near Moreton Rail Station

Grid: SY 780 890

Distance: 8 ml, 12.9 km 

Height Gain: 500 ft, 152 m

 Height Lost: 450 ft, 137 m

Walking With: Mrs G

Notes: A walk of gentle slopes but some lengthy road walking at start and end. There were several stiles, gates and footbridges. Get the Train back to the start.

Route

These notes are provided to enable the walk to be plotted on a 1:25,000 map.

From Moreton Station walk south along the B3390 for approximately one and three quarter miles to turn on to a bridleway and follow the Jubilee Trail westwards as far as Winterbourne Came. Turn right along the track, crossing the road walk up to North Plantation. From here either, bear left on the footpath, to cross the A35 then using paths and roads walk down into Dorchester and Dorchester South Station. Or, bear right up the bridleway to Max Gate and walk down into Dorchester and the Station.

Journey

Although the walk is described from Moreton Station we actually started from the midst of the nearby Caravan Club Site where we were on holiday. Having had four days of persistent rain while driving down with the caravan and during our short stay in the New Forest, on Wednesday we decided that whatever the weather, on Thursday we were walking. No driving. So a route I had roughly plotted at home was quickly tarted it up and loaded on the Garmin. Train times were checked and with a clear blue sky we set off.

While plotting the walk I had noticed that there was long walk through Crossways down the road to pick up the Jubilee Trail but had not realised just how far it was or how boringly straight it was. We thought that Crossways, with roads called Hurricane and Spitfire, plus a Spitfire Club, might have grown out of an old RAF base. There are also several other caravan, camping, mobile home sites, a water park in the area.

While the road was not busy it was a relief to get off it on to the bridleway across Warmwell Heath where we encountered these delightful horses, two females, one pregnant and the foal. Naturally the paths were pretty wet and muddy but we just splashed through most of it as it was so nice to be out and walking in the sunshine and see the countryside.

Crossing a ford we left the heath behind to enter farm land, a series of wet fields led us up to a field full of cows and calves with the stile on the far side of them. Mrs G does not do cows. So after negotiating three electric fences, one of which zapped me twice and paddled through a morass of shitty mud we ended up sneaking down the far side of the cows field, hoping to get to the stile before the cows saw us and charged!. As they mainly stood still, except for a little black one with white socks, we got over the stile and into the village of West Knighton without injury and headed for the New Inn for lunch.

Before getting there we chatted with a chap who confirmed that Crossways had been a Battle of Britain fighter station during the war. We also chatted with an old lady who explained, in some detail, that what we assumed was West Knighton was actually three villages. Evidently the ‘coming together’ had taken a long time and was not popular but I must admit I got a little confused with some of her explanations. Bless.

The New Inn was a nice friendly pub and the sandwich’s we had were Ok but expensive. From West Knighton the walk was on good tracks through large open fields. At Whitcombe the path around the Farm, Church and ‘Village Earthworks’ is contained by fences and gates, while not pleasant to walk through, particularly when a bit overgrown, it obviously protects the land and livestock. 

The walk from Whitcomb Hill down to Winterborne Came was my favourite part of the day. We popped out of the woods at the top of the ridge and were immediately captivated by the view, of broad fields, distant woodlands, moderate slopes and the distant house and barn. The walk down to the house was along a cut grass track around the edges of the field and leading to the house with its garden of flowers, fruit and vegetables, the whole valley felt so sunny, so sheltered and lovely.

Having crossed the A35 we entered into Dorchester via a housing estate and much as I love and admire OS mapping, it is impossible even at 1:25000 to plot a route out of modern housing estates with their twisty turns and cul-de-sacs, so I simple followed the green dotted footpath lines between houses, up the back of two estates from different eras and alongside a school until we reached a road clearly marked in brown. Then it was down a couple of roads and up a few more to the Station to catch the 1533 train back to Moreton.

Final Note

This walk took place on the only day in our fortnight without rain and although we inevitably got caught up in some of the flooding that occurred in the area, most of the Caravan Club site stayed flood free if not dry. As a result of the weather and some illness we were unable to do any of the other walks we had planned. During the other three or four partly dry/showery days we had, we had a great time getting to visit most of the South Dorset locations we had planned to see, Corfe Castle, Swanage but not Studland, Lulworth and Durdle Dor, Portland but not much of Weymouth, Abbotsbury Swannery, Lyme Regis but not Bridport, Wareham, Poole, Dorchester and Monkey World.

South Dorset is a really beautiful area, superb for walking, but a bit short on buses for linear day walks. This was our first time in the area for many years but we will be coming down again, hopefully in better weather. It was a pleasure to be there.