Blogs from Dorset, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 12

Spent a delightful week in Dorset with Lynne and her sister, Jayne. We stayed in a olde worlde thatch cottage on the Athelhampton House Estate, not far from Dorchester. Being so near the coast I did a couple of days walking two stretches of the South West Coast Path. The first stretch was from West Bay to Charmouth which entailed a hike up two very steep cliffs; the first Thorncombe Beacon and then after recovering from that a steep hike up Golden Cap, the highest point on the South Coast at 626 feet. As you will see from the photographs the views were spectactular from both especially on such a sunny day The weather on the second day of walking was pretty miserable and the walk from West Bay to Abbotsbury was a bit tedious during ... read more

Perthamina has had an exciting trip on her own. We left her in Tortola, after a few weeks in the virgin islands. A company there called island yacht management agreed to deliver her to the ship in St Thomas . First they had to relaunch her, and then anchor off for a night before she was loaded. They were excellent. The ship, the Snoeckgracht, went to Rhode Island first and then 10 days later we were told by Peters and May that the boat was arriving on the 23rd. It was really odd to see our boat perched on top of a ship, but soon got on board, all seemed fine. We checked that everything was working, including the navigation lights and engine, then watched all the ot her boats being carefully lifted into the water. ... read more

This is a circular walk of about 4.5 miles, taking 1.5-2 hours. It has some very steep hills to climb but some fantastic views. Points of interest:Hambledon Hill (iron age fort, views), Shroton Village Date of Photos 21/4/2011 OS map and further details of the route at THIS LINK . Here you will find information about distance, time, a route card with OS grid references, and elevation (how hilly it is). Click the Aerial or leisure view for a better map. You can also print the map if you register (free) ... read more

Nearly there...... house packed up (thanks to Dora, Ronnie and Colette's help!), car sold (thanks to ebay) and rucksacks packed (thanks to tardis like qualities!!). Tomorrow we will hand the keys over to Jennie and Greg to make their new home in our old home. As no beds left at ours, we picked up chips and are staying at Tony's next two nights. Coach from Poole at noon on Saturday, flight from Heathrow at 8.15pm Saturday - we will reach Buenos Aires (via Paris) Sunday morning. Adios amigos!!! xx... read more

For those of you that aren't completely fed up of hearing the intricate details of our trip, here is an outline of our plans; 10 April - 9 May - Spanish school in Buenos Aires. This will involve living with a host (Elsa, a 61 year old chef and Italian professor) in the Recoleta area of the City. We will be attending Spanish school 5 mornings a week, afternoons free to take tango lessong (yes, we are, despite Gordon's protests!!) and generally chill 10 May - 9 July - two months independent travel, planning to travel the length of Argentina to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (look it up on a map!) then back up through Chile. 10 July - 9 August - voluntary work in Sucre, Bolivia with street and orphaned children, living in a ... read more