2015.07.25 Dorchester - Hardy Monument bicycle trip

Our exploration of southern coastline of Britain took us to Weymouth. Since spending all day there seemed too challenging, we started off with a bicycle trip from Dorchester to Hardy Monument and back making a loop. The trip was inspired by this route, we modified it by following National Route 2 all the way from Dorchester and doing last two climbs on foot. We used an excellent map found here.
Bicycles were rented from Dorchester Cycles.
The climbs were challenging, but the views were fantastic and the descent from Portesham just lovely - virtually no pedalling needed. See the tracklog of our journey.

2015.03.07 Lepe D-Day embarkation remains

Sunny Saturday happened even before astronomical spring and caught us by surprise. With no time for preparations we went to the place we did not finish to explore last time. At Lepe then we headed west, this time we turned to the east, to see the D-day embarkation site remains. Not a lot survived and without excellent information boards it would be hard to figure out the meaning of decaying structures.

2014.06.22 Lepe Country Park

Unexpectedly weather for that day appeared to be very nice, we did not make any plans (due to earlier forecasts), so as a kind of spontaneous reaction we decided to go the the closes decent seaside place. That appeared to be Lepe Country Park.
We started with small walk through the conservation area, then to the lighthouse, and then we sat on a patch of sand. That is a great place for children, as apart from usual seaside activities there is a big meadow and playground near the car park. We will definitely be back there, at least for a walk east, to the D-day remains. Here is Lepe Country Park guide showing all the attractions

2014.05.18 Lymington - Keyheaven nature reserve

Because the 5 year old member of our occasional expedition along the Dorset Coastline shows typical for that age symptoms (are we there yet?), instead of driveing further west we switched to areas lying closer to home, which we skipped before.

Loop around Lymington - Keyheaven nature reserve did not leave too many photographic memories: that day the sky was aboltutely pure (blunt...), with strong sunlight causing terrible haze over the Isle of Wight. Not to say that there is nothing to see in the area: for one loving sails there is plenty to stare at, but most of all the place is full of birs - and birders, with their cannon-like lenses.

There is no beach at Keyheaven bay, although one can walk on the pebbels easily, ant there is pretty much no access to the see along the seawall, apart from small 'beach' at the pipe leading to Isle of Wight. The path is pretty wide, there are also more of them cuttting through the reserve and the next time we go there, it will be with cycling in mind.

We stooped for lunch at The Chequers Inn- delicious pork ribs!

For more information of the reserve see the leaflet
Our walk as kml file can be seen and downloaded here

If you arrive early at Lymington you can be lucky to find some space along the road, otherwise there is a big pay&display car park

Blue sky, gren grass...

 

Shape and colour abstractions appeared to be the main theme

 

2014.03.16 Boscombe

Last year we ended exploration of Dorset coastline at Christchurch, last weekend we resumed paying visit to Boscombe beach. It is sandy, wide, there is enough pebbles to keep the boy uccupied and enough shells (actually awfully lot) to entertain the woman. Along the road on top of the cliff there are free parking spaces. There is wide tarmac pavement along the beach, it is very popular with cyclists. But fear not, there is riding ban over summer months, although I suspect trying to cycle at that time would be impossible anyway: good access to so nice beach means in must be packed, actually when we were leaving there was no free parking space left, and the beach was nearly empty! I also don't think there are enough of facilities like toilets to serve the crowd. We visited the pier and although from otside not as exceptional as the one in Clevedon, nevertheless nice to walk along. I liked the exhibition shwing facts from its history very much.
On the way back we drove through Bournemouth and had a look at the main beach: few (and paid) parking spaces, funfair at the entrance to the pier, and presumably even more packed. So we will skip that for the next visit to that area. For now some memories from Boscombe:

2013.05.26 Christchurch (Dorset)

Thanks to unusual phenomenon of sunny Bank Holiday weekend we could make another step in exploring Dorset coastline: Christchurch (just off Bournemouth). So far the best place: network of paths to get to the peninsula, nice beach, plenty of public toilets, ferry linking with the town and Mudeford, and nice seascapes:

 Azure

 Bournemouth

 Christchurch