Hello #wednesdaywalk people and thanks to 
The Isle of Purbeck in Dorset is best known for being a part of the Jurassic Coast that incorporates a large section of the Dorset and Devon coastlines. It is a 96 mile stretch from Exmouth to Studland Bay, which became a World Heritage site in 2001.
Acton
We parked outside the beautiful stone and flint village of Acton (nothing like it's London namesake) and walked through the village to where we could pick up the path. This path leads to the Priests Way a long distance path through Dorset. Follow this for a short distance and the signs pointing in the direction of the Dinosaur footprints...
The Spyway Dinosaur Footprints
It is incredible to think that 140 million years ago, there would have been a group of dinosaurs frequently visiting the shallow lagoon that existed here at the time. The soft mud around the fringes of the lagoon had "recorded" their footprints to remain hidden for millennia. It wasn't until 1997 that quarrymen Kevin Keates and Trevor Haysom discovered them whilst still working the quarry at that location.
You can kind of imagine from the photo above that the layers of rock were once a muddy plain that sloped down to a basin in which water gathered to form a lagoon or perhaps this whole area was more submerged at the time?
Here we can clearly see the layers of rock that formed over that 140 million year period. I wonder what they would find if they were to keep digging?
This is one of the dinosaurs, probably a herd of Brachiosaurus, assuming that's the right collective noun of course? It was difficult to photograph them to really show their scale but you could kind of figure out the four prints and imagine the scale of the animals. It made the bull in the neighbouring field instantly appear less menacing!
It was an incredible place and I highly recommend you visit. If you have kids they'll love it especially. Do wear boots though because the surrounding field was splendidly muddy!
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/spyway/features/the-spyway-dinosaur-footprints
Stop off in Swanage
Not part of the same walk but taken 30 minutes later and ties in with my other post about the Cafes I wrote a couple of days ago. We took a walk through Swanage to find Chococo who are a fabulous Chocolatier (a bit like a small scale Hotel Chocolat).
It was along their street where I spotted this wonderful example of community gardening. I thought it was fantastic.
