After a great night in the pub - with old English music and a fantastic sea bass washed down with some Doom Bar - we emerge onto the promenade. Chesil Beach is looking fantastic as always but the sun hasn’t burned off the mist yet...
The path takes us up the cliff where we get our first view of the day...
And meet these lovely people, who will join us today...
We learn a lot about Portland but basically, it has major historical significance in defence of England, lots of quarries for the amazing stone, cliffs, dodgy housing estates and admiralty facilities converted into industrial estates, 3 lighthouses, prisons and ruins, there is a lot to keep us interested! Particularly as it is only 6 kilometres long and 1 and a half kilometres wide. There are a number of amateur art sculptures along the path which have been done by the locals... bizarre!
The views back to Chesil are great and it feels a bit more “South West Coast Path” than yesterday.
Portland has a reputation for weird goings on. Here, apparently, there was a land dispute which resulted in one of the parties murdering another. Not sure it seems worth it!
This is the oldest defunct lighthouse, there is another one which has been turned into a bird sanctuary because of the amount of rare birds that come here.
This is the lighthouse proper now, which is fully automated. The currents here are vicious and there have been many, many wrecks here through the years, which makes it a very popular place for divers.
This is right at the end of Portland and is called the Pulpit Rock - the most southerly place in Dorset.
There is a Coast Path sign behind the obelisk that tells us it is 581 Miles to Minehead - and 49 to Poole. That explains my aching legs!
Time for a cup of tea in the sunshine.
These “strip sheds” seem like beach huts but are linked to an ancient strip field system - a way of dividing the land for the locals to work it. They look weird dotted about the island.
There are lots of remains of quarrying equipment around.
And massive quarries - apparently the further down you go, the better the stone.
There is a big prison which deals with adults and another part which deals with yound offenders. It is eerily quiet though...
We get back to nearly where we started and we can see the mainland with a spectacular view - Portland is a “tied” island which means it is connected to the mainland... the harbour is the largest man-made harbour in the world and was used as the main naval base in the UK until the Germans captured France in the Second World War.
We walk back to the mainland and start on our way to Weymouth
The Quayside at Weymouth is really lovely on an afternoon like this...
We come onto the beach and there is a play area for dogs we take full advantage of.
Before walking the two miles down the promenade...
Where it is time for a last cuppa before parting from our companions.
And across Eweleaze Farm (open for camping only in August), which we know well.
And onto Osmington Mills where we stay at the Smugglers Inn - steeped in a long history of breaking the law and hundreds of years of smuggling.
We are continuing to raise money for Meningitis Research - very many thanks to all who have donated so far. Please CLICK HERE or copy and paste this link if you would be so kind as to join them: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/steve-schrier
