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Published: June 27th 2009
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We had thunderstorms during the night and it was still rather wet and miserable looking this morning. Not to be deterred by the weather - which we were assured by the morning show weather reporter would be clearing - we headed off with Jim and Marilyn to explore Dorset.
We headed around Poole Harbour to Wareham before driving into the Purbeck Hills with the intention of visiting Tyneham Village. Tyneham Village was temporarily acquired by the military during WWII. The only problem is that they still haven’t given it back!!! Since it is still used as a rifle range the road to the village is not always open to the public. You guessed it, when we arrived at the check point the road was closed!! Mind you as we were driving into the Purbeck Hills the fog was getting thicker and thicker until it was like pea soup with very limited visibility.
Since we couldn’t go to Tyneham Village we headed instead towards Corfe Castle - yet another atmospheric ruined castle here in England!! The mist leant itself to some rather ethereal shots of the castle. Never mind the fact that we were parked on the double yellow lines
while the driver went off to take photos!!
Back in Wareham we headed west on the A352 towards Wool and then turned south on the A353 towards Poxwell and Osmington. When we arrived in Weymouth the parking fairies were looking after Bernie very well and we were able to park right on the sea front while we took a stroll along the sea front to the Queen Victoria Jubilee Clock.
From Weymouth we continued around Portland Habour and over the causeway to Portland. Jim and Marilyn were able to tell us that Portland Harbour will be hosting the sailing events at the 2012 Olympics, a fact that I am sure we would have remained oblivious to if we had been on our own. We drove up to Fortuneswell for the view back over the harbor, The Fleet and Chesil Beach. Unfortunately with the persistent fog we couldn’t see much further than the causeway!! However, the sun was really starting to make an impact on the fog so while we had lunch our view opened up and up and up. By the time that we had finished eating we had quite a reasonable view.
After lunch we drove
back over the causeway and then headed onto the B3157 at Wyke Regis. We called in at Fleet for the view along The Fleet back towards Portland. The view was lovely with some picturesque dinghies anchored in The Fleet. The only down side was the smell that seemed to be emanating from a septic tank outfall that was located right on the water??! It did rather spoil an otherwise idyllic setting.
From Fleet we headed up towards Abbotsbury. On the road between Abbotsbury and Swyre we had some spectacular views back towards The Fleet. With the sky remaining a little hazy after this morning’s fog we couldn’t quite see as far as Portland this afternoon.
At Swyre we headed onto the un-numbered roads to Puncknowle and Litton Cheney where Tracey’s and Marilyn’s Darby relatives hail from. When we looked at the visitor’s book again at Puncknowle church we discovered that Marilyn visited the church with a (Darby descended) cousin from New Zealand the day after Bernie and I visited the church in 2005!!! Imagine how close our paths came to crossing?! Not that we would have known each other anyway!
Eventually the country lanes took us to
the A35 and we started heading east towards Dorchester. Jim directed Bernie through Dorchester so that we could see Poundbury - Prince Charles’ urban development project on the outskirts of Dorchester. From Dorchester we continued back along the A35 to Poole.
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