Exploring the Bournemouth Coast Path

The Sandbanks television programme did not do much for the area’s reputation. It was not a rounded picture with no mention of the ferry, St Nicholas Chapel, the excellent year round 150 bus service or the shop. It even ignored famous past long stay visitors such as wireless pioneer Guglielmo Marconi and Beatle John Lennon.

However, warmer winter weather is bringing increased numbers of visitors who don’t like dogs or dog mess. At present dogs must be kept on a lead on the promenade and off the beach along the Poole seafront from Sandbanks to Branksome Chine only in summer.

Now there is a plan to ban dogs from the promenade at the Sandbanks end all year. Poole Council is conducting an informal consultation of beach users over the next eight weeks with views going to the environment overview group.

A three part series over three nights on ITV is devoted to Sandbanks at the western end of the Bournemouth Coast Path.

The sandy peninsula lies within the borough of Poole with just one road entry although some motorists arrive by ferry by way of the Isle of Purbeck. Many people pass through on the 150 Bournemouth-Swanage open top bus which takes precedence over all other traffic queuing for the ferry including large cars from the exclusive houses.

The houses and plots are amongst the most expensive in Europe with such residents as Harry Redknapp and his daughter Louise. Sir Ernest Cassel was one of the first to have beach house there but he did not think it worth buying the land. He may have been right since there are now fears about rising sea levels.

Piers Morgan fronts the programme made last year and talks to residents and an estate agent. 

See pages 20-23.

Sandbanks is on ITV at 10.35 on Tuesday 15, Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 January.

Coast is new book containing stunning pictures of the Bournemouth Coast Path.

Copies of the 176 page A4 hardback book, published by the Bournemouth Daily Echo, suddenly appeared in local shops days before Christmas. There had been a delay with printing. Most of the pictures are by Echo photographers who took to the air for many of them.

Swanage and Mudeford look magnificent from the air as does Old Harry Rocks and there are unusual aerial shots of Sandbanks with Shell Bay in the distance and Old Harry Rocks. 

In Bournemouth there is a glimpse down on to the private clifftop gardens alongside Branksome Dene Chine and a long view from Toft Zig-Zag looking towards Christchurch Harbour. 

Views from the ground include Swanage Bay from the famous pillars and close-ups of Mudeford Spit beach huts. There is a surprise angle for the Chewton Bunny photograph which is the eastern boundary for the book. Highlights of the Dorset Coast Path are also featured.

Coast is available from Echo offices in Bournemouth and Swanage as well as bookshops including Borders in Bournemouth; £14.95.

The New Year is a good moment to remind walkers that the long closure of Alum Chine’s suspension bridge in the Sandbanks-Bournemouth Pier section is over. It’s a clear walk all the way now.

Planning permission has been given for the surf beach at Boscombe so there will soon be the chance to watch the ‘underwater’ building next near the pier. 

Former footballer and BBC sports commentator Bob Wilson has described Hengistbury Head as his favourite place “just ahead of Bermuda”.

“Hengistbury…embodies the magic of the British coast” says Bob in today’s Sunday Times Travel section. “I used to run round the headland at dawn, then jump in the sea for a skinny-dip.

“Now my wife and I walk or cycle out there, and the further you go, the more remote it feels, especially in a winter storm.”

Bob once had a beach hut on Sandspit below the Head and still recommends its cafe.

The West Cliff path leading down to Bournemouth’s Pier Approach has re-opened following the Labour Party Conference.

During the last six days, the Highcliff Hotel has been packed with ministers and media whilst the land train, usually only seen in summer, has been carrying delegates up and down the slope between the hotel and the conference centre below. The many TV satellite dish vans have also gone.

The coast looked magnificent during conference week with low mist over the Purbeck beaches on Saturday and sun on other days. One evening the Christchurch Bay coast could be seen lit by sun behind Hengistbury Head which was in shadow. Pictures have been a good advertisement for the Bournemouth Coast Path. What a pity the Ramblers’ Association did not have its usual fringe meeting this year.

Next year the Liberals will be a the same Bournemouth conference centre but security is unlikely to be so massive for an opposition party.

See pages 30-33.

The exclusion zone around the Labour Party Conference on Bournemouth’s West Cliff is now in force. The site embraces the Bournemouth International Centre and the Highcliff Hotel.

Walkers approaching along the clifftop from Durley Chine must turn left inland into West Hill Road. At the crossroads go right along Priory Road which crosses St Michael’s Road (good for hotels) and soon runs downhill to Exeter Road. Ahead is the Royal Exeter Hotel, the town’s oldest building. Go right along Exeter Road to pass between the BIC front entrance and the Punshon Memorial Church to reach the Pier.

The diversion is full of interest. This Sunday’s Labour Party church service at the Punshon is the last service in the church which is closing. The Methodist church, rebuilt on a new site after Second World War bombing, is the national memorial to the leading 19th-century Methodist preacher William Morley Punshon.

The cliffside route on the West Cliff will reopen late on Thursday afternoon.

See pages 30-33.

In Bournemouth the long suspension bridge spanning Alum Chine is closed and it looks as if repair work may take some time.

But there is no need to make a long diversion.

Simply go down the easily missed steps at the side. Once deep within the the wooded chine turn left. Take the right fork and at once go right up a steep flight of steps. At the road, West Overcliff Drive, turn right to reach the east end of the bridge.

See pages 28-29.

The Cliffhanger refreshment room has opened at Highcliffe on the site of the much-missed Crow’s Nest cafe which was destroyed by fire seventeen years ago.

The new name reflects the location above the coast path steps leading down to Chewton Bunny.

The venture has been masterminded by Sean Kearney who runs the tearoom at nearby Highcliffe Castle which has long been a welcome staging post for coast path walkers. However, there are plans for the Cliffhanger to be open for longer hours and in addition to a restaurant there are facilities for serving snacks.

The Cliffhanger opens at 8am for breakfast (from £4.95) and the lunchtime menu includes soup and a roll (£3.75) and jacket potatoes with fillings (from £4.95). In the afternoon there are cream teas (£4.50).

The chef is Ian Hewitt from Southbourne’s Bistro on the Beach which manages to combine serving good quick food for passing walkers with serious dining, especially in the evenings. The Cliffhanger will start opening until 10pm later this summer.

The rebuilding, to a striking new design, includes new public toilets.

See page 69 in the book. The Cliffhanger is where the route crosses the end of Waterford Road.

Police tapes on the Barton-on-Sea have been taken down following the weekend scare over cliff top cracks.

Existing cracks were thought by some to be linked to the Kent earthquake. This claim has now been dismissed by experts.

Dr Ian West of Southampton University, who monitors the cliffs, suggests that any activity at the east end will be confined to a narrow strip just 100 foot long.

However, the cliffs which have a long history of erosion, do remain fragile and he does predict that a 384 foot length of cliffside to the west, between the shops and Cliff House Hotel, will fall by next winter.