There were only four of us for the ride along the Purbeck cycleway, an extended version of the one we did early last year that now included a loop from Corfe Castle to Swanage and back. So after an early start, David, Mick, Vanessa and Alistair met up in Wareham at the Community café near the quay before setting off towards Corfe. At the junction of the road and the NCN2 at Stoborough, there was a bike traffic jam with four separate groups of cyclists trying to turn off the main road.  The cycle route through Ridge passed through the pretty Dorset heath on the southern edge of Pole Harbour before joining the main road beside the Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum where there was nose to tail traffic queuing all the way to Corfe Castle where we turned off onto Sandy Hill Lane towards Swanage. Fortunately the traffic was sticking to the main road or trying to find somewhere to park to visit Corfe Castle, so the narrow lane was largely traffic free.

After the initial climb, the narrow road snaked round bends and up and down hills through Woolgarston and past the nudist campsite [hidden behind high hedges] to Knitson where the downhill run to the beach at Swanage started. There was a stiff easterly onshore wind blowing in Swanage, so despite the sandy beach, the water did not look inviting for swimmers, so we turned off onto the High Street looking for a café.  The town centre was heaving with holidaymakers, so prospects of a timely coffee looking remote, we carried on through the town and started the climb up Langton Maltravers where we spotted Poppins Café and stopped there for a welcome bacon sarnie and coffee. Refreshed, we continued the climb to Kingston where there was a lovely fast twisty descent back down to Corfe Castle.At the top of Povington Hill

We left most of the traffic behind when we took the road around the base of the castle to Church Knowle then at Steeple climbed up West Creech Hill to the Lulworth Range Road.  We stopped at the viewpoint at Povington Hill with extensive views out to sea and inland to the Frome Valley. From there it was downhilll with another steep descent to East Lulworth. Once past Lulworth Camp the road descended to Lulworth Cove where predictably it was absolutely heaving with people. David and Mick went for a swim in the sea and then we had our picnic lunch before heading back to West Lulworth and over the hill to the access road to Durdle Door.Moreton Ford

It was then a nice easy run down to Winfrith and past the old Magnox nuclear reactor to Moreton where we turned off onto the gravel track that runs through the woods and heathland from Moreton Ford to Clouds Hill that borders the Army Tank Regiment Headquarters at Bovington Camp. It was then a straight run back on road to the cars in Wareham. On the way back we stopped at a pub in Bere Regis for a welcome pint to allow the rush hour traffic to dissipate. It was a nice day out in lovely scenery – 45 miles and 1004m ascent.