ISLE OF PORTLAND AND JURASSIC COAST

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February 24th 2018

Published: February 25th 2018

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John and Gloria Travels

OLD HARRY'S ROCKS

Cold and windy but sun is shining

Had a lovely drive from Looe to Isle of Portland, stopping into Plymouth for a look around the Hoe, fabulous harbour and historical area with a working military base right in the middle of the Hoe. Little bit hazy and nippy but the sun was shining for most of the day. Had a nice coffee harbourside and then pushed on to Weymouth and the Isle of Portand. We rented a gorgous little cottage close to the bottom of the hill of Portland....the couple who own it have renovated it beautifully with everything you could need...very tasteful..even left us with a beautiful hamper from the Dorset area, fudge, orange and whiskey jam, museli, Dorset Ginger biscuites, wine and beer...so nice of them. Spent Friday out and about going down the coast a little further to visit a few sites and did a lovely costal walk....specatular scenery....I know in Australia we have lovely coasts too...but this is something we haven't seen before...so glad we gave London the boot and decided to do country England. Driving down here so many different types of little villages......so, so cute....with their pubs, shops, B&Bs and sites to see. We would need a year here to visit all

SAMPHIRE COTTAGE PORTLAND

Looks a dive but is gorgeous inside

these gorgeous villages and soak up the atmosphere....we have done this coast once before but did different towns and sites. Our first night we wandered down the hill and visited the Cove Inn on Chesil Beach, they had a local wedding in the main dining area so sat back and relaxed by the open fire over a couple of pints and were joined by two guys working on ships in the area...couple of lads but great company....the pub also advertised a folk band every Thursday night....so that was a bit of fun...I think its more of a jam between locals who play instruments...it was unbelievable a couple even came in on zimmer frames but soon whipped up a storm in the music department....great night had by all. Friday first up we visited Durdle Door, with its magnificent arch and fossils embedded in it, then onto Lulworth Cove, such a pretty place, picture perfect cove that was carved out of the coastline to form what it is today, then onto Old Harry's rocks, another 45 minute walk into the coast to visit this spectacular coastline which has been eroded away over years with its shiny, white cliff faces, we loved the

SAMPHIRE COTTAGE

Lovely renovated bathrooms

walk into here, parking the car near the local pub in Studland...though there is no charge to visit these sites...the parking is pretty xxxxy...but still a cheap day out. Exhausted and pretty frozen we headed back to Isle of Portland to visit another local pub.....steak night....yummy steak with all the trimmings, bottle of red 32 pound for the two of us...Eight Kings was a great little venue....tiny but loads of atmosphere! Saturday the day for exploring Isle of Portland, I am sure it is just a rock, the beautiful Portland Stone, limestone, that builds beautiful homes and is responsible for its beautiful coastline. The stone has been used since Roman times and by the 14th century was being exported for major building projects such as Exeter Cathedral and a lot of buildings in London. We set off from from our little Samphire Cottage and walked up the main street, then up a goat track to the top of the hill and stopped in for coffee at The Heights Hotel, then set off on the Coastal walk, up hill and down but what a beautiful walk, on the west side it was very pleasant and no hats or gloves but as

SAMPHIRE COTTAGE

All done very tastefully

soon as we hit Portland Bill, where the lighthouse is, the wind was a killer!! On went the balaclava, gloves and coats....it was icy! A fantastic 15 klm walk and stopped off in The New Inn, the pub on the corner of our street, and had a well earned pint. Heating our left over beautiful cornish pasties for dinner tonight....beef and stilton....they are so yumm.....not so good for the diet but when in Rome.....hey...!!! We went a bit overboard in Looe and bought a few so they cannot go to waste. Tomorrow is another day and we are off to Southampton to board our ship to Northern Norway to hopefully see the Northern Lights....you may not hear much from us now...as internet will be at an absolute minimum.

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