Dorset September 2013.

After a few days at home, we packed up again headed down to Dorset. We stay in a friends cottage in Swanage. It is near the beach and shops and there are some lovely walks right from the cottage. This one to Old Harry is about 6 miles.

Old Harry.                 And........                        Old Malcolm

    

This is Old Harry's Rock. Just one of many odd rock formations on the Dorset Coast. 

  

It took us quite a while to get to Dorset but for some reason we decided to do this 6 mile walk as soon as we got there. It was one of those walks that convinced you that the most staggeringly beautiful view was just over the hill. It was! Problem was that hill was 3 miles away and it was sooooo windy .

Views from the walk.

It was just as well we did do that walk because for the rest of the week the weather went downhill.

We went into Shaftsbury on Tuesday. It was the location for a famous Hovis advert several years ago. It poured down but we were able to walk up and down the famous hill

                       

We also visited Wareham. Strange little market town . We walked around the "walls" and if the weather had been better the views would have been superb.

The river Piddle. Oh yes! 

                  While we were there we went to the "market" . There were AA type signs out on the roads so we thought it would be a big proper country type market. Wrong! It was actually in a shed no bigger 

 than  our garage. And...it was an auction..... There was an old girl with a mike, around about a 1000 eggs on a bench, not any old eggs though,these were turkey eggs, bantam eggs, duck eggs and maybe dinosaur eggs, I don't know. Once we were in we just stood and watched, absolutely out of our comfort zone. They were flogging these eggs for silly money, £1.00 for twenty , that sort of thing. They also had dead things for sale

                                        ⬇

We left before they got auctioned!!

Sat by the water and had fish and chips one night. Only had my phone but it did well to capture this .

               No trip to Dorset would be complete without a walk to Lulworth and Durdle Door.

We did a circular walk which took us through an area called Scratchy Arse, so called because of all the gorse bushes along the valley bottom. Have to admit we were trudging towards the end of the walk.

                             

    Swanage is a lovely little place. Most of it is old fashioned sea-side, but there are some places that seem to attract the most scummy people on the planet. However,nothing can spoil this.

                             

        

                               

   A lot of the coastline is owned by the military and is off limits during the week. Within  this restricted area is a village called Tynham. In 1943 Winston Churchill requisitioned the village so that the whole area could be used as a practice area for the D Day landings. All the people in the village were found somewhere else to live and told that they would be able to return. However, the land reminded in the control of  the military, and still is, so the village became derelict.

                  

                              

 The wording on all the information makes it sound as if the villagers left because they wanted to do their bit for the war effort which was rubbish. They had no choice.Their lives were ripped apart and I guess for them life was never the same again. Very sad.

We didn't get to do the "range walk as the weather closed in and people were turning back. Shame really as the place is only open weekends. Maybe next time!