To take advantage of the glorious weather, I planned a longer ride around the Purbeck hills for Tuesday that would also be a training ride for those coming on the upcoming french tour. So it was an early start from Basingstoke for David, SueC, Mark, Ray, Mick, SueP, Graham, Carol, Jan and me to arrive in Wareham for a 10:00 start. It was wall to wall sunshine as we got the bikes ready and whilst some struggled with paying for parking as the ticket machine was not working, Jan, Carol and I headed down towards the Quay and settled in the Community Cafe for coffee and toasted tea cakes until the rest of the group joined us. Suitably refreshed, we set off on the cycle route down some lovely quiet lanes through the heathland to Corfe Castle where the obligatory photo or two was taken.

As some of the group wanted a shorter ride, I had changed the original route to miss out the loop to Swanage and all of us would ride together to Winfrith then there would be an option of a shorter route back via the NCN2 for those that wished - all nice in theory!. There were lovely views as we rode on the quiet lane to Steeple then started the mile long climb up Creech Hill at a steady 13%. At the top we found that the road through the army firing ranges was closed by a barrier and with the red flags flying. There was a local on his bike who said that we would not get through as the range officer patrolled the road and would turn us back. He said that there was a short cut that the locals used on the other side of the hill. So we set off down the 20% gradient on the inland side of the hills and turned along a road that became a track with another army barrier across it. A not so friendly lorry driver came up [he had a number plate inside his windscreen that said "GRUMPY"] and said there was no way through - later on he was proved absolutely correct!. So we headed back and took a long loop in the general direction of Wareham and looked at our options. The consensus was that going to Lulworth was still preferred over a northern loop back and no-one wanted to take a shortcut.  So we headed down the road towards Lulworth Cove and past a tank waiting for its escort from the firing range who waved and tooted his horn. The tanks on the range were firing over to where the road on our original route was - so perhaps it was just as well we did not ignore the road closed sign on this occasion.

Lulworth Cove

We had a nice downhill run to West Lulworth and to the car park at Lulworth Cove. We stopped for lunch at Finley's cafe there - much better than anticipated at a busy tourist spot. After lunch we rode down to the cove, took some photos and then headed back over the hill to the entrance to Durdle Door. Some of us rode down to the end of the car park for a quick look around then headed back up to join the others. It was another good downhill run into Winfrith Newburgh. At the entrance to the road past the old decommissioned Magnox Nuclear Power plant was a sign saying road closed ahead. Another local on a bike coming from the other direction said that the road was properly closed off at the northern end and she had to divert around - as this was a good couple of miles further on we took her suggested diversion through the heathland to Moreton to pick up the NCN2 there after a 4 mile detour. We followed the NCN2 back to Wareham Quay to use the facilities before loading the bikes back on the car for the journey home. It was a lovely day out despite the diversions and it would merit another ride around there in the future although next time I will check the range closing dates first! [if I am allowed to plan any further rides]. Overall we did 43 miles and 682m ascent.