Walk 52

Milford on sea to Southampton 21miles

A very cold raw north westerly wind greeted me today at the start of this walk and stayed with me for the duration! The first stop of the day ws Lymington (see Pic) very quaint with its cobbled streets and little shops. A short walk took me thru to Bealieu which was nice, it was then onto my final destination Southampton c/w huge oil refinery!!! Todays walk can be described as FLAT! and I had to do a fair bit of road work....sign of things to come....The B&B was great with free WIFI :)

Walk 51

Christchurch to Milford on Sea 9miles

I had to drive to Christchurch today and drop the car off for the week....I hope its there when I get back!!!! As I walked towards Milford I had to climb a hill to take the picture on this entry of my blog, this would be the last hill to climb for over 100 miles!. The view from the top of the hill was fantastic stretching all the way to Harrys Rocks. A ferry to Mudeford greeted me at the bottom of the hill and then it was a straight forward 6 mile walk along the beach into Milford on Sea, I crossed the county border into Hampshire today so farwell Dorset. As I arrived into Milford the IOW came into view and I had a great view of the Needles. I stopped in a nice B&B in Milford and in the evening decided to go out for a meal so I chose the closest to the B&B which just happened to be the Zaika Indian Resturant but to my horror they refused to serve me because and I quote " we do not have any tables for one".....so if your ever in Milford, you now know where not to go!

Walk 50

Swanage to Christchurch 19miles

I stopped overnight at the Grand Hotel in Swanage great room with a view (See Pic) shame about the shower which you needed to run around in to get wet! The next day was glorious, hardly a cloud in the sky so off I walked up a few steep hills safe in the knowledge today that these would be the last for quite a long time :( First port of call was Old Harry Rocks ( see Pic) which then led downhill to the beach at Studland, lovely white sand all the way round the headland to the end of the South West Coast Path....the SWCP has been hard at times but I'm gonna miss it :( So it was onto the Sandbanks ferry(free!) and a walk along millionaires row I must say I was a bit dissapointed it was all a bit...shabby. The rest of the walk was along the promenade to Christchurch...very flat and hard on the feet

Walk 49.......part 1 & 2

Lulworth Cove to Swanage 21miles

Part1......

I intended to walk this stretch of the coast in one go, but the weather had other ideas! I started from West Lulworth in what can only be described as a force 10 gale with rain as well, fortunatley it was a cross wind off the sea so it was blowing me back onto the cliff (not the other way round :)). So I trudged on, fell over 4 times, waded through countless mud and by the time I had reached the other side of Kimmerige I'd had enough, here I saw a sign for Kingston.....Taxi!

Part2......

4 days later I drove to Kingston and wow what a difference.....no rain and bearly a breath of air, thats more like it :) the conditions were perfect and I walked the last 11 miles to Swanage in just under 4hrs. Pic is of the lighthouse at Anvil Point

Walk 48

Weymouth(Kings Statue) to Lulworth Cove 14Miles

Gary dropped me off at the Kings Statue to start the walk(cheers mate!) and I promptly walked along the front the mile or so to the cafe and met him for breakfast...perfect start to any walk! I said my fairwells after breakie and walked out of town up a small incline, the next few miles consisted of reasonably flat terain but unfortunatly the mud made an unwelcome return :(

The hard part of the walk was just after Ringstead Bay where things got a lot tougher, I have to admit I wasn't expecting this sort of terrain as the SWCP website had said this part of the walk was "moderate"! So I walked up and down West Bottom, Middle Bottom, East Bottom, Durdle Door(See Pic) and finally into Lulworth Cove.

On the way down the hill into Lulworth Cove I met a couple on there way home, and managed to scrounge a lift to Wool station, so a big thank you to Jackie and Ian :)

Walk 47

Portland 14miles

A circular walk today starting from the ferry bridge at Weymouth, cold but breezy day with a 2 mile hike before arriving onto the actual island of Portland. A steep climb to start the walking, but the rest of the island was flat all the way out to the "Bill" (see Pic) and back.I did manage an extra mile of detour/wrong turn but heyho these things happen. A big thank you to Gary and Di for there hospitalityand bed in the evening....Go Green Bay!

Walk 46

West Bay to Weymouth(Kings Statue) 23miles

A cold but calm day starting off with a drive to West Bay, parked the car for a quid for the whole day! what a bargain :) I intended to walk only 20miles today but mis-calculated the extra 3miles to the bus stop in Weymouth:( The walk started with a hill but the rest was mostly flat with a small detour avoiding the trek accross Chesil Beach, the detour did take me past the very lovely Swannery at Abbotsbury. Pic is of Chesil Beach