Poole Quay to Sandbanks

Poole Quay

A day trip to Poole and we embarked on this walk to Sandbanks, Poole's finest beach and one of the UK's most expensive property locations.

We walked along the lively Quay with some nice old buildings as well as the inevitable amusement arcade and fish and chip shop and past a new development of flats and shops. Along past the old lifeboat house and soon we reached the promenade around the large Baiter Park. Already it was much quieter.

The next section of promenade bordered the much smaller Whitecliff Park. Benches were helpfully placed at frequent intervals and it was easy to imagine settling down with a book and glancing from time to time out to the vast harbour.



At the end of this section we detoured for a refreshing drink in the pleasant Cafe in Poole Marina.

In fact this was the end of the promenade and the route led through a residential area to follow the busy Sandbanks Road for some distance. Eventually we reached Evening Hill on the seaward side. This pleasant grassy area offers an escape from the road and presents lovely views over the harbour.



We descended from here, still following the road, to come to an area favoured by wind surfers and kite surfers. We admired a small forest of kites and the dramatic stunts of the surfers.



We now finally reached Sandbanks proper but still had to follow the road on the harbour side. At last a gap in the houses allowed us through to the main Sandbanks beach with a promenade behind it.

We struggled along the sand a bit further after it ended and were rewarded with a fine view over to Old Harry, the rock which marks the easternmost point of the Isle of Purbeck.



We returned to the road and had an excellent, if rather extravagant, lunch in the Shore Cafe, which we capped off by dancing to the very good live band.

We then struggled on up the road to reach the tip of Sandbanks from which there is a ferry over the narrow stretch of water to the Isle of Purbeck and Swanage.


Postscript

This had proved to be a rather longer walk than we had expected and we opted to return by ferry - a first! We first crossed to Brownsea Island, which is owned by the National Trust and contains a nature reserve, as well as a former castle now used as a hotel for employees of the John Lewis Partnership and the Baden-Powell Outdoor Centre. The castle can seen in this view from Sandbanks towards Brownsea.



A further ferry returned us to Poole Quay.

Conditions: sunny, hot.

Distance: about 6 miles.

Rating: three stars. The long road section was a bit gruelling.