Weather: Sunny and cool. Distance: 11 km, (6.8 miles)
Total Distance: miles
I had my English breakfast cooked by the American,
gained permission to leave my car in their driveway and pick it up on my way
home, and walked down to West Port, now much quieter in the cool of the early
morning. Even though the tide was on its way in and only an hour from high
tide, I decided I could walk along the beach for a time instead of climbing the
cliff. At Burton cliff the tide was too
far in to chance the beach so I made my only climb of the day. The cliff then
disappeared and Chesil beach started. I had not realised it but from there to
West Bexington was hard going along the pebbles. A case of two steps forward and one
back.
A cafe at West Bexington was a welcome sight. More than
a cafe, this was a village shop without a village! The sun shone and I sat
outside drinking a wonderful mug of tea made by a very elderly man. From there
to Abbotsbury was easier along a track on the landward side of the beach.
At Abbotsbury I read on a sign about Chesil beach that
the public were only welcome to walk the beach up until May 1st after which it
was closed to protect breeding birds. So much for the TIC at Weymouth who told
me I could walk it anytime. This meant that I had to return in 10 days time to
walk Chesil beach.
I walked up to the main road, past the sub-tropical
gardens, and to the outskirts of Abbotsbury. The bus was still over an hour
away so I hitched, getting a lift of a van driver delivering chilled foods in
the area. The disturbing thing was that he resembled Fredrick West the
mass murderer from Gloucester! I kept envisaging that I would disappear and end up in a pack of frozen sausages.
Two days of glorious walking weather made a real
surprise since it had been a poor forecast originally.
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