The connecting trails in this guide (England, Backpacking Dorset, A GPS Trail Guide with WWII Landmarks) follow the Dorset coast from Bournemouth to Lyme Regis. Hiking the length of this trail requires many days, perhaps a week, but this length of time can be reduced by using public transportation between the towns and villages.
All of the trails in this guide are public trails, even though some of them pass across private land. Please do not leave litter on the land. If you stray from the trail then you are trespassing. Share the countryside — you have a right to be there, but it is not exclusive.
Backpackers with an interest in the Second World War will enjoy hiking along the Dorset coast. Dorset is a land of great contrasts and breathtaking scenery. Over every hill is something new. Maybe the sound of a pheasant, or the sight of a running deer. Occasionally there's a chapel, built from the stone of a local quarry. Sometimes there's a pillbox, manned during WWII, now often used as a shelter by animals escaping the rain. And then there's the random fort, or the concrete tank traps, once a part of England's coastal defense network.
In May 1944 there were 2,876,000 allied troops amassed in southern England. A cross-channel assault on the German occupying forces was planned and code-named Overlord.
The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries. Almost 133,000 troops from England, Canada, and the United States landed on D-Day. Casualties from the three countries during the landing numbered 10,300. By June 30th, over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the Normandy shores. |
