SWCP: Weymouth to London

 Another great night’s sleep in the silent cottage (below), caught the bus to Weymouth and mooched around for a couple of hours. Heavy showers - glad they waited till my walking was all finished.

Had this perfect-looking coffee while I waited. Weymouth is pretty much a traditional seaside town but there are a few signs of gentrification, including this cafe (Finca) which had a steady stream of customers queuing outside.

The train had its own entertainment system like on a long-haul flight, so I watched Tarantino’s

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood most of the way home, while scoffing a Weymouth pasty. Train pleasantly empty. Covid restrictions are lifted from midnight tonight and all the cafes, restaurants, theatres etc are re-opening so the world will be getting a lot busier. I’m happy I managed to do this trip while everything is still at a more-or-less standstill. Will have to get planning my next one.

SWCP: Abbotsbury to Weymouth

 Set off as the church bell was ringing 9 in the morning.  All around was a riot of birdsong. Blue sky was appearing and there was a soft breeze. A steep climb just south of the village, up to St Catharine’s chapel. Stunning 360-degree views stretching all along the coast, including Chesil beach.

Shortly after the chapel, I came to the swannery. It’s cygnet time so it would have made a nice visit, but it wasn’t open yet. However, later in the day I watched a pair of swans lift slightly above the water and beat their way majestically across the Fleet.

Dew on the cow parsley

The number and variety of birds all along the way was astonishing. Skylarks singing loudly way up above practically the whole length of the walk. My trusty phone app also identified garden warblers, blackcaps, chiffchaffs, wrens, chaffinches and nuthatches alongside the more usual pheasants, wood pigeons, robins, thrushes and blackbirds. 

These were the first cows I’ve seen over the past days who’ve been standing up. I thought this might mean it wasn’t going to rain after all, but that was a bit optimistic.

The path follows the edge of the Fleet, the freshwater lagoon created by the shingle bank of Chesil beach. A good opportunity to cool my feet and have my sandwich. I’ve seen people swimming in the sea here without wetsuits - must be rather bracing! 

There was a lot of this sort of mud today, and the ground was tussocky and uneven for almost the whole route, so it was quite hard going. There was also less of a view to spur me on and distract me. 

Errr....OK!

My hips, knee and feet were getting sore and I wanted to get the 3 o’clock bus back to Abbotsbury rather than waiting for the next one at 5pm so I left the path at Chickerell. I hadn’t brought any water with me today and there hadn’t been any places to buy any along the route, so I was delighted to find that I was actually very near to civilisation and particularly this shop. I had some time waiting at the bus stop in the rain, feeling cold and on tenterhooks in case the bus rushed past or didn’t turn up. The driver went like a maniac and despite the speed, the journey felt long - I was mildly agog that I’d walked all that way. Home for a hot shower, a cuppa and later on, a ready meal curry and lots of TV. God knows how I’ll ever get my boots clean.

Salvation

SWCP: West Bay to Abbotsbury

 Day 2 was supposed to be a lot easier on the legs, but it didn’t quite seem that way. There was a section of shingle beach that really took it out of me.

This is the house across the road from where

I stayed. There are two similar houses and they’re called the “Hardy houses” because they were designed by the Dorchester architects’ firm where Thomas Hardy worked. 

Looking back towards West Bay around 930 am. 

Phil kindly gave me a lift there from Bridport.

There were flowers galore all along the route.

Not as much climbing as yesterday’s 2500 feet - today it was only 1000 feet. But a few hills.

You can see Chesil beach in the distance.

There were reed-beds all the way along, alive with reed warblers, skylarks,
linnets and I also saw a goldfinch.

The walk from Burton Bradstock to West Bexington was four miles of shingle beach - knackering. I had a nice socks-off sit-down and would have liked to walk barefoot in the shallows but the shingle was too sharp underfoot. I had the entire middle section all to myself, being the only nutter prepared to walk all that way. 

 I turned away from the coast at West Bexington and made my way up to the South Dorset Ridgeway. From here the views were 360-degree and stunning. 

On the ridgeway

The approach to Abbotsbury. In the centre you can see the 14th-century St Catherine’s chapel standing in splendid isolation on a green hill.

I’m staying in a lovely old stone house in Abbotsbury for two nights. It’s very quiet. The only sound is a wood-pigeon and the church bell telling the time now and then. I’ve got the whole house to myself.

Lyme Regis to Bridport

Took the train to Axminster yesterday lunchtime for a solo walking extravaganza. Terrible weather forecast and arrived in heavy rain. In the time it took for me to walk to the Tesco next door to the station to get some dinner, it became apparent my so-called raincoat is completely non-waterproof. I stayed in an annex run by Sarah, who was kind and lovely and gave me a lift from Axminster and another one into Lyme Regis. She laughed when I said I’d get a taxi - there apparently aren’t many of them around and there’d probably have been a 24-hour wait! She seemed both sceptical and astonished that I intended to walk all the way to Bridport. 

Lyme Regis beach was a bit rainy and, as the tide wasn’t out very far, I had to hop from rock to rock. There were a few fossil-hunters and winkle-pickers around. Lucky if had to wait till 10.30 for my lift or the tide wouldn’t have been far out enough to get across the beach.

The drizzle quickly cleared up and I was treated to a day of mostly dry weather. I was overjoyed. The walk was long and there were a lot of steep hills. Strava says I walked 2,500 feet upwards today! But the views were breathtaking, so I loved it. I had the whole walk almost to myself. What a place! The colour of the sea towards the end of the day was as pale blue as the Aegean. The cloudscapes were gorgeous.

Resting my feet - only a few miles to go

Completely empty National Trust car park = blissful solitude 

West Bay was the end of today’s route but I then had to walk another 2 miles inland to get to my Airbnb. Sat on a bench for a rest and got chatting to a man with a friendly dog. He turned out to be the Airbnb owner and he gave me a lift there. Result! He’s from Bradford, used to be a lawyer and has teenagers (and a dog) so there was plenty of common ground.

Quick trip to Waitrose for some dinner and now I’m chillin, having just remotely attended book club. Shuggie Bain was an agreed successful choice for this week. I bowed out early.crossing my fingers for tomorrow’s weather. The distance is similar to today but with far fewer hills.