Weymouth and Portland

A holiday in Weymouth allowed us to do a new part of the South West Coast Path.    This was different to other parts in that it was mainly flat.  The weather was good for 3 days of our holiday but after the second day visibility was not good so unfortunately we could not see far down the coast.

On our first evening we walked around Weymouth itself.  The central beach was lovely and sandy and I was pleased to see sand sculptures which Weymouth is famous for. There was plenty of activity in the harbour, with a ferry off loading cars.

The next day we walked from Weymouth to Portland. On the outward journey we took the inland route of the Rodwell Trail, which followed an old rail track.  This met the South West Coast Path by Sandsfoot Castle.  We walked across Ferrybridge into Portland and then along the coast until we had passed the sailing centre.  We then turned around  and walked all the way back on the south west coast path.

After a wet day when we visited Abbotsbury we did another part of the coast path the following day.  Initially we walked eastwards from the centre of Weymouth along the beach until we came to the Lodmoor RSPB reserve.  We walked around this and then turned back to Weymouth.

After a quick rest we caught the bus to Portland and got out at the end and walked down to the South West Coast Path.  It was unfortunate that the poor visibility meant we could not see down the coast.  We walked around the coast until we came to the lighthouse at Portland Bill.  After lunch we continued walking down the other side of Portland.  This was a different kind of walk as we picked our way along the stony path past quarries of portland stone.  Eventually we came back to Southwell to catch the bus back to Weymouth.

On our way home we stopped at Hive Beach and walked along the coast for while.  We then went on to Charmouth and Lyme Regis.

Hive Beach

Lyme Regis Cobb

Cremyl to Caswand in May

Having just posted the blog of our walk around West Pentire headland I see my last entry was in December.  With a very wet winter, with lots of cliff falls we have not been out on the South West Coast path very much.  However we did do the walk from Cremyll to Caswand in May but I had forgotten to write about it.

The first delight on this walk was seeing the baby goslings at the pond.

There was rhodendrons and bluebells along the way.

As we walked we saw many trees that had been felled by the winter storms.  Some had been cleared, but at one point there was a large tree blocking the path.  People had made an diversion, but this meant a steep up and down and as it was still a bit muddy it was not easy, in fact almost dangerous.

West Pentire to Holywell

I had heard that there was a beautiful wild flower meadow on West Pentire headland so as it was a lovely day and we had all day to walk we drove there and walked around the headland and continued on the south west coast path to the other end of Holywell before returning on an  inland path.

We hoped to find the National Trust car park, but could not see where to go for that so ended up in a car park at West Pentire.  Although we had to pay it was very reasonable (£2 for 4 hours) and the view over Crantock beach towards Newquay was stunning.

As we started to walk around the West Pentire headland we saw the field of wild flowers to our left.  It was a bit disappointing.  Photos we had seen from last year showed many more poppies.  I am not sure if we were too early in the year or it was not such a good display this year.

The walk on the South West Coast path was beautiful.  The sea was a lovely blue and beaches we passed very sandy and enticing.  On the headland there was masses of sea thrift that added to the colour.

We stopped for our lunch overlooking Holywell beach - a magnificent view!

Generally it was an easy section of the coast path with gentle hills and no steep climbs.  However once we had reached Holywell we had to walk through the sand dunes to reach the other side of the beach.  This is never easy, but it was not too bad.  We had some problem finding the inland path to take us back to the car park, but a helpful attendant at the NT car park gave us directions.  We were following the walk we had downloaded from the NT website,http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article-1356405233898/ but it needed more detail at this point.  Further on in the walk we were unsure which path to take, but decided in the end to make our way down to Polly Joke and then take the path across the headland.  This was not the route on the walk and involved a steep climb up from Polly Joke, but by taking it we saw more wild flowers and walked through the wild flower meadow at West Pentire to get another view of it.