Sunday 21 September 2014

Povington Hill and the Whiteway

Today for The Swanage & Purbeck Walking Festival, I took a particularly nice group of people to Tyneham. Now there are many ways to walk to Tyneham, the deserted village that lies in a remote valley on the western edge of the Isle of Purbeck, but today we chose one of the best.
Starting at Povington Hill we walked westward along the Whiteway ridge heading for Flowers Barrow, an Iron Age hill fort that was built over two and a half thousand years ago and is now slowly falling into the sea. The views along the ridge to the north and south are wonderful enough but when you arrive at Flowers Barrow you are in for a real treat.
Once we managed to tear ourselves away from Flowers it was time for the decent into Warbarrow Bay and this takes a great deal of care. The path is steep and on a wetter day would be far too dangerous to use. For us today it was fine, but this is not a path to rush down.
Warbarrow Bay itself is worth the walk, it is very picturesque and, because of its remoteness, never seems to get too busy.
From here the walk to Tyneham is easy. A lane runs between the bay and the village and is only a mile long but it takes a while to see the first of the ruined building as you walk through the trees..
By Christmas Day 1943 Tyneham was deserted and it has stayed that way ever since, giving us an idea of what it may have been like to live in a small isolated village at that time.
 Don't rush your visit here, the village is small and is ready to be explored. Besides, the walk back up to Povington Hill is steep and hard work, with only the promise of those views to look forward to.
Lulworth Castle from the Whiteway Ridge
West from Flowers Barrow
The descent from Flowers Barrow
Warbarrow Bay
Tyneham
Tyneham

1 comment:

Nick said...

Great photographs of the day. Thanks for organising an excellent photography walk, very enjoyable and informative.

Quiet but never silent.

I missed the Sun this morning, not because I was late but because the early wander was done and dusted by the time the clouds cleared. When...