We had quite a nice time camping at Weymouth at the weekend. I say ‘quite’ because there were horrendous gales and rain both Friday night and Saturday night which kept us awake somewhat. Also a 100 yard walk in the dark to the bathroom was another downer. We ended up taking a shower at quarter to five Saturday morning – the water was only lukewarm. Ditto Sunday morning when the water started off lukewarm and then went icy cold. I had to get partially dressed and go the sinks and wash off the conditioner there. Other downers were the sogginess of the tent pitches – the mud got us down in the end, worse than the rain and wind as getting in and out of the tent without getting our knees muddy proved practically impossible. Also at the head of the lane leading down to the tent pitches there was a lump of tarmac so high that I was afraid it would drag onto something on the underside of the car, being a low slung sports car, and to go over it to the right or left meant the car dragging against the wooden fence and I think put another scrape on the bodywork of my car. Even taking that precaution I winced every time I drove over it. At the other end of that little lane was a wide deep puddle that we had to wade through when on foot. It certainly made me think I was mental going camping in March!
On the up side though we had two lovely days on Saturday and Sunday. Even Friday when we got there was okay as it was sunny and dry albeit very windy. Except for when we started putting the tent up and I realised we’d left the tent pegs behind so we had to drive into town and buy another lot. After the rain and wind of the night the weather on Saturday was incredibly warm – with sunshine and blue skies and dry all day. We drove to Bridport and enjoyed a few hours there strolling through the outdoor market etc. I bought a lovely round inlaid coffee table at one of the stalls. I also bought a couple of interesting bottles of wine in Palmers wine store attached to the brewery in Bridport – a rose from Chile and a white wine from Mendoza in Argentina. In the afternoon we returned to Weymouth and spent about 3 hours there. Then we parked up above Bowleaze Cove with a nice view of the sea, enjoying the warmth of the sun through the windscreen of the car (without the stiff breeze that went with it!) We also drove to look for Ringstead Bay and parked at the private road entrance with nice views of the bay. We didn’t drive down as the cost was £4 to use the road and it was too windy to go walking. We finally wound up early evening in Sutton Poyntz, armed with a loaf of bread and had fun feeding the ducks on the village stream. Then into the Springhead pub where we pushed the boat out and paid £11 each for a main course and another £4 for a glass of rose wine. That finished the day off nicely and we got back to the campsite just after dark.
Sunday after another windy and rainy night we were up early again and drove to Dorchester for the open air market and car boot sale taking place there. It was still windy and not much sun until later in the morning but we enjoyed ourselves at the market. I managed to find some genuine Bristol Blue glass goblets as a gift for Colin and a Port Merion spice jar for myself. We were also lucky to find someone selling some camping equipment – a mini cooker, spare gas bottle, and a kettle and saucepan to go with it. This will come in jolly useful on future camping trips as we can at least brew up a cup of coffee.
By the time we left the market the sun was out in full with blue skies again and we drove to the Smugglers Inn at Osmington Mills, the car park of which is on the cliff overlooking the sea. We had an excellent roast lamb lunch there and afterwards drove to Lulworth Cove intending to park overlooking the sea. Unfortunately on arrival it wasn’t possible to park with a view of the sea and we didn’t fancy walking so drove to Ringstead and parked up there instead and stayed a couple of hours. Around 4 pm we decided that we didn’t fancy another windy night, the muddiness of our pitch being such that I was afraid the car would get stuck in it. So we returned to the campsite and dismantled the tent and drove homeward, arriving around 6 pm. I went home first and gave the car a good wash as it was plastered in mud. Then dropped Ann in Bath and returned to Colin’s house. He wasn’t too surprised to see me as he was amazed we had lasted as long as we had, with the wind and rainy conditions. Despite the pitfalls we enjoyed our camping trip to Weymouth and it hasn’t put us off camping in future – we will wait until it is drier and warmer though before attempting it again! Two or three photos will be posted soon.
This was our second weekend in Weymouth in March - three weeks earlier we spent 3 nights in the Royal Hotel on the sea front which was very enjoyable even though on day three I had a problem with my back and had to spend the day in bed in order to be fit to travel home the following day. Whilst there we visited Bridport and West Bay and also had time to explore the shops in Dorchester. In fact March was a busy month - on 18th March we went to London for the day and then again for the weekend of 25-26 March. Both times we had the added luxury of travelling by train, something we can rarely afford. By collecting vouchers in the Daily Mail, Colin had collected enough for us to have the two return trips for only £10 each. We spent the day on the 18th visiting favourite places around London and ended up with Aquiles and Toti for dinner. The weekend trip was to celebrate Aquiles' birthday and his brother Carlos came over from Switzerland for this as well. Unfortunately I was ill again whilst there and missed the party altogether, being far too sick to attend. So, although it was windy and raining in Weymouth last weekend I enjoyed the trip simply because I was well!!!
