On both of our previous visits to Dorset, we have visited Portland Bill. The first time was around 13 years ago, or so I believe as I remember Jake being about 16 years old. And it never fails to impress, or provide us with good weather.
Today was another hot one, so we were hoping for some sea breeze to keep us from melting. The drive over was around an hour, a very picturesque drive along the coast passing places such as West Bay, Burton Bradstock and through the quaint old village of Abbotsbury where the main street is lines by thatched cottages.
We spent the first hour or so just at the top of the hill as you arrive on Portland Bill. There is a small area where you can enjoy the views out over Chesil Beach and Portland Harbour with the cruise ships moored offshore. There's also a mini Stonehenge made up of local Portland stone, and some historic Victorian gun batteries, and an Olympic rings sculpture commemorating the 2012 Olympics and the water based sports that were held in and around Portland and Weymouth.
The drive along to the end of the outcrop only takes about 20 minutes, you then park in the large car park right near the stunning red and white lighthouse. We walked for around 3hrs, went down to Pulpit Rock, down past the beach huts spread around the eastern edge of the area where it overlooks lovely clear waters. There are also some historic winches along the coast that would have in the past been used to load stone onto boats. By around 2:30pm we were hot and just wanted to enjoy the drive back with the air-con full on.
After chilling out in the garden for a couple of hours we packed up a rucksack and headed down to Seatown beach. As you would expect it wasn't as busy as it was on Sunday, so that allowed us to walk just a couple of hundred metres up the beach to find some privacy. And of course, gave me the opportunity to have another little swim in the sea. Just a pity that the Anchor Inn was, as we discovered, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so the hope of a cider whilst sat overlooking the sea would have to wait for another day.
By the time we arrived back at the cottage it was around 9pm, and enough for the day.
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