Lovely morning. Weymouth beach is deserted at 9am and as the 31 bus deposits us amid the traffic cones of the seafront, we opt for a cheapo bacon sandwich and tea from a wild eyed young man in an empty esplanade cafe. The first part of the path here follows the beach. A is new to the Greenhill end of the town and with the view right round to St Alban's Head in the clear morning light it looks at its best today. After Lodmoor the path goes up the road over to Bowleaze, and we stop to view the remains of the small roman temple at Jordan Hill. Its then through the holiday camp, where picnics on the beach are outlawed for some reason, and the world heritage site contains dodgems. The striking art deco of the hotel looks more faded than usual up close. A couple men appear to be working on some kind of paint job. I hope they get it done in time for the Olympics.
After this point the countryside begins and the more customary atmosphere of the coat path kicks in. It very quickly comes to feel remote (save for large groups of helmeted kids abseiling off aparatus at the Osmington Bay activities centre). There is even a nice short stretch of undercliffe before we arrive at the Smugglers Inn for an early morning shandy, which is perfect in the summer morning heat. Good to visit this pub in high summer before it gets too full. There is a marquee making ready for a wedding reception, and the tables have been named after areas of the coastline, Chesil Beach, Durdle Door etc.
The next stretch through Ringstead is very familiar, J's default beach, snorkeling venue and round walk with weekenders. The climb up White Nothe is out first major ascent of the day and comes as ashock. Forget to select low gear and feel a bit knackered half way up. But the cliff views are wonderful and just get better rounding the coastguard cottages and looking east at the chalk of Bats Head. Its a fantastic spot for the packed lunch.There are 3 sharp ascents and descents after this. Quite challenging but by now we are properly paced, and there are many rewards as this is the start of possibly the most iconic section of the whole Jurassic Coast. The sea views are great, with the chalk stack, the seam of Portland stone rocks off shore and the....well its hard not to sound like an A level geography casualty round here.
Good for wildlife too, with lots of tiny thyme in flower, and some wacky green/gold hopper type creatures who seem to favour wild carrot flowers.
More iconic views as we arrive at Durdle Door. The beach looks very inviting, but suddenly there are crowds of people. Massive litter collection operation. Ethnic diversity with lots of large family
groups enjoying dahl and rice. We observe a very marked tendency for what appears to be middle aged men with young Thai brides, how can we possibly record this on the blog, but really, its like there is a convention! Ice cream helps us over the hill in the crowds towards Lulworth cove, which is looking good as ever. The notorious car park and the large crowds don't really distract from the experience as might have been feared after the peace and near solitude of the previous few miles. Its A's first visit, so we take in Stair Hole, and the main street.
More time here would have been good but there is only one option at 1620. We are the only passengers after an over-refreshed family get off at the top of the hill at Daggers Gate. The subsised route gets us back to Dorchester for the bargain price of £1.30 each. Ideally we would have liked to pick up the range walks from this point, but the military wont open them for another week. So we need to depart form the sequence we had planned, but we have a alternative for our next planned day, so we can barbeque tonight and attend the Sunday of the Weymouth Seafood festival tomorrow (which turned out to be great)
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