Fleet Lagoon

Tackled the 8 mile smugglers trail today from Langton Herring to the Fleet. Langton Herring is a small village in West Dorset, which connects to the South West Coastal Path on the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site; with a plethora of spectacular views a few minutes away on the Fleet Lagoon. It is such a picturesque little village with a number of original thatched cottages from the 17th and 18th Century still standing. This quiet rural, primarily agricultural village is all but hidden from the main road by a myriad of trees and gardens. The Elm Tree Inn, where we had lunch prior to embarking on our lengthy walk, has a colourful and somewhat chequered history linked to smuggling. In the pub is one old beam made from a ship's mast with two hooks on it. Legend has it that a fisherman was hanged from the hooks for lying about his catch. There is a tunnel running from the pub to the church next door believed to be a smugglers escape route. 200 years ago this inn was surely a meeting place for smugglers as well as for spy ring members Ethel Gee and Harry Houghton who were arrested in 1961 for selling naval secrets to Russia.

Chesil Beach is a pebble beach 18 miles long and stretches north-west from Portland to West Bay. For much of its length it is separated from the mainland by an area of saline water called the Fleet Lagoon. The lagoon is 13 km long and varies in width from 900 metres to 65 metres. The Fleet provides the habitat for a variety of bird and plant life, as well as a large colony of mute swans at the Abbotsbury Swannery. The Fleet Sanctuary Nature Reserve is the second oldest in Britain and it's shallow waters are now recognised as a wetland of international importance. Legend has it that the fleet proved a great asset to local smugglers who when danger threatened sunk their tubs of spirits in the Fleet safe in the knowledge that they were unlikely to be swept away by the rough seas.