Why this ride
354 km from Wareham to Wareham, about 6 h 58 of riding. It goes by way of Chesil, Dorset and East Devon Coast, Portland Harbour Shore and Lyme Regis to West Bay. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point and Lyme Regis to West Bay
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 354 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 58
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Chesil → Dorset and East Devon Coast
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 42 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 44 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point
This is where the geology lesson becomes a spectacle: Lulworth Cove, an almost perfect circle bitten out of soft clays behind a narrow gap in the harder limestone, and Durdle Door just to the west, an arch of Portland stone standing in clear green water. The Lulworth Crumple, where the rock layers have been bent nearly vertical by the same forces that raised the Alps, is visible at Stair Hole.
Read the complete Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point is where the day begins. Next is Chesil.
2. Chesil
Twenty-nine kilometres of shingle, piled high and steep and running almost dead straight from West Bay to the Isle of Portland: Chesil Beach is one of the great natural oddities of the English coast. Behind it lies the Fleet, a long, shallow, brackish lagoon full of eelgrass and birds, and the whole system is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The pebbles grade in size along the beach, small as peas at the western end and as big as potatoes towards Portland, so precisely that smugglers landing on dark nights were said to know where they were by the feel of the stones.
Read the complete Chesil write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chesil comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dorset and East Devon Coast.
3. Dorset and East Devon Coast
The cliffs around Lyme Regis are made of dark, crumbling clay and shale, and every winter storm brings some of them down. That is why fossil hunters love them. In the early nineteenth century a local girl named Mary Anning, the daughter of a carpenter, found the skeleton of an ichthyosaur on the beach and went on to unearth some of the first plesiosaurs, earning a grudging place in a scientific world that did not welcome women. The ammonites, fossil crinoids and sea-reptile bones that still turn up here are nearly two hundred million years old, and the whole coast from Exmouth to Studland, the Jurassic Coast, was listed by UNESCO in 2001 for its record of Earth history.
Read the complete Dorset and East Devon Coast write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 85 km into the recorded legs you reach Dorset and East Devon Coast. Next is Portland Harbour Shore.
4. Portland Harbour Shore
Portland Harbour is one of the largest man made harbours in the world, enclosed by breakwaters built in the nineteenth century, partly by convict labour, from Portland stone quarried on the island above. For over a century it was a major Royal Navy base, and today it is a centre for sailing, windsurfing and kite surfing; the sailing events of the 2012 London Olympics were held here. The shore between Weymouth and Portland, with Chesil Beach stretching away to the west, is a fascinating place to explore.
Read the complete Portland Harbour Shore write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Portland Harbour Shore, about halfway. Next is Lyme Regis to West Bay.
5. Lyme Regis to West Bay
The cliffs between Lyme Regis and West Bay are falling into the sea, and that is precisely why people come. This stretch of the Dorset coast is part of the Jurassic Coast, England's first natural World Heritage Site, and its soft clay and limestone cliffs constantly release fossils from the Jurassic seas of around two hundred million years ago. Ammonites, belemnites and the bones of marine reptiles wash out onto the beaches after every storm, and at Charmouth you will see families combing the shingle with hammers and bags at low tide.
Read the complete Lyme Regis to West Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lyme Regis to West Bay sits at 175 km, about halfway. Next is back through Portland Harbour Shore.
6. back through Portland Harbour Shore
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Portland Harbour Shore write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Portland Harbour Shore comes up about 215 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Dorset and East Devon Coast.
7. back through Dorset and East Devon Coast
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dorset and East Devon Coast write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 268 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Dorset and East Devon Coast. Next is back through Chesil.
8. back through Chesil
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chesil write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Chesil, late in the day. Next is Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point.
9. Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 354 km.
Leg by leg
Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point to Chesil
Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point → Chesil is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chesil to Dorset and East Devon Coast
Chesil → Dorset and East Devon Coast is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dorset and East Devon Coast to Portland Harbour Shore
Dorset and East Devon Coast → Portland Harbour Shore is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Portland Harbour Shore to Lyme Regis to West Bay
Portland Harbour Shore → Lyme Regis to West Bay is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lyme Regis to West Bay to back through Portland Harbour Shore
Lyme Regis to West Bay → back through Portland Harbour Shore is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Portland Harbour Shore to back through Dorset and East Devon Coast
back through Portland Harbour Shore → back through Dorset and East Devon Coast is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast to back through Chesil
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast → back through Chesil is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chesil to Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point
back through Chesil → Bowleaze Cove to Peveril Point is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.