Run Britain Day 26: Swanage to Weymouth (via Corfe Castle)

The South West Coast Path is one of the most popular parts of the British coastline - for good reason, it is magnificent. But this section of Britain also plays host to a few military training grounds which are, occasionally, used for practice firing into the sea. And because the path is so popular in the summer, the Ministry of Defence isn’t allowed to fire during the warmer months. But on a random Wednesday in November, they can fire to their hearts content. And when they do, they lock the gates, wave the red flags and block access to the odd winter walker or runner.

The problem is, there isn’t really a diversion during firing times. Which means I would have had to take a 13 mile detour up the dangerous countryside roads which are out of the firing zone. Or wait until the weekend to avoid being caught in the crossfire of military training.

A big shout out to Andrew (my running partner for the day) who alerted me to this issue and Ben and Emily (my generous hosts in Swanage), who helped me reorganise what became quite complicated logistics of day 26.

I ended up running 12km out of Swanage to Corfe Castle, where Andrew picked me up and drove us around the Lulworth Ranges to Lulworth Cove where we were able to pick up the coast path again and run the most spectacular bit of coastline so far.

I am not sure what this diversion means for my circumnavigation of the coast record attempt. But I am more than happy to come back to this amazing section of Dorset when I finish to fill in the gap.