UKC

A SECTION of coast path on Portland has been closed due to fears of a landslide.

The route between Tout and Blacknor has been temporarily closed to the public after heavy rainfall.

A spokeswoman for the Coastal Ranger Team said there has been a 'significant' amount of movement including rockfall on the slopes to the north of Blacknor.

Diversions are expected to be put in place by Friday and the section of path will be closed for the next few months while the route is reviewed and repaired.

In reply to John Alcock: Hi John, I'm fairly familiar with Portland, but, where is Tout?

In reply to JPGR:
Fortunately it's south from Blacknor. Tout Quarry is where the sculpture park is.

I think it's a sign of how dangerous things are there at present.

In reply to John Alcock
good post - Tout is north of blacknor though.

In reply to John Alcock:
Hi John

Thanks for this.

I spoke to the Portland Ranger and the County Geologist today. The footpath closure will not affect access to Blacknor North, that can still be accessed from the South.

By the weekend the footpath closure should just affect 2 sections. (The larger closure was whilst the permission of land owners for the diversions is sort).

From the north:
* the first closure is the section around Tout Quarry, near the Sculpture Park, where there are significant cracks in the path and whole sections have dropped by about half a meter. Here the path will be diverted through the quarry.
* The second section is by the foot bridge where ther has been significant land movement. Again a diversion will be in place.

Take care as there has been a lot of land slips around the climbing areas.

Helen

In reply to John Alcock:

The South West Coast Path team was dealing with no fewer than 20 path closures and route changes yesterday, and because of the dynamic nature of any coastline the situation is changing all the time. Keep up to date with what's going on by checking the Coast Path website: http://www.southwestcoastpath.com/newsapp/article/57/

In reply to John Alcock:

The here is local newspaper report:
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/localnews/10153234.Rangers_close_part_of_c...

Helen

In reply to Helen Heanes:
How bad is Portland at present Helen? I must admit I have reservations about climbing on a lot of the crags until it's certain the slopes above have settled down.