Sunday, 4 June. Weymouth

Success!! This morning I drove back to Osmington and parked in a used car dealership (closed on Sunday) I spotted yesterday. Didn’t even have to cross the scary road as there was a break in the hedgerow and I could see clearly. 

Sunday round Weymouth is like Sunday in the Dandenongs - lots of bike riders risking their lives on narrow roads and people out for a drive and a nice lunch. Fortunately you have to drive so slowly that the bike riders aren’t in too much danger.

Next on the agenda was a view of Chesil Beach but on my way to the spot I’d planned, I found a little road down to the beach itself. Paid the first of many parking fees and walked up onto the beach. It is made of tiny stones, quite polished from the weather.  The “beach” is like a big hill of stones, 18 miles long. People were settled on the lower slope for a day at the beach which seemed pretty weird but at least it wasn’t crowded.

Further along the road I stopped on Abbotsbury Hill for a panoramic view. It really is a strange and interesting formation.

On to Charmouth to have a look at the Jurassic Coast beach where people pick up fossils, such as ammonites. I spent about an hour and a half looking with no success. There were lots of fossil hunters out and you could hear the tapping of their picks on the rock. The beach can be really dangerous as there are frequent land slips, which send the fossils onto the beach. You are only supposed to go at low tide too. There were also lots of families just enjoying the beach - a bit nearer to the car park where it wasn’t quite so sticky, grey muddy.

I was feeling pretty warm after this little activity so I drove back to the picturesque, chocolate-boxy village of Abbotsbury, found a car park and a pub and a nice cold orange squash.

As it was still only a bit after three I decided to head to the Isle of Portland, which is where Chesil Beach begins and which is a sort of peninsula right beside Weymouth. Drove to the very end to see Portland Bill, the lighthouse on the tip of the land.

Then back to my hotel and feet up for a while, but I thought I should try English fish and chips again so I walked into town to the White Hart Tavern. The fish and chips were quite ok and way better than the ones I had on a previous trip but still not a patch on ours.

Weymouth on a Sunday evening at the end of the half term holiday week looked a lot different from yesterday. Hardly any people and nearly everything closed. Hope all the workers were home with their feet up in front of the telly.