Worbarrow Bay

A beautiful walk from the ghost village of Tyneham, across M.O.D land - accessible most weekends after public pressure applied in the 70s - up to Flowers Barrow, then down into Worbarrow Bay.

Handpainted sign at Durlston Castle

Signs painted by local children on a hoarding around Durlston Castle; it used to be a restaurant, but now is undergoing restoration as part of the Durlston Project

Dorset promotion, 60s style

Every Day in May takes a photographic form over the weekend, as we are away walking on the Isle of Purbeck (in Dorset, and not technically and island). This detail is from a poster in the Corfe Castle railway station (a stop on the restored Swanage Railway) were we waited to board a steam train...

Close to Nature

Up at 7 on a foggy Sunday morning (made ever-so slightly worth it by seeing participants taking part in the Brighton Run), then 4 hours on a train / bus / train to Dorset for my grandma's housewarming... after 20+ years of living in a thatched cottage worthy of a chocolate box portrait, she's moved to the 'big city' (about 4 miles down to road, pop. 2,920). The new house is lovely, and of great import to me, has beautiful deep windowsills; big enough to curl up on with a book. These windowseats and their cushions are one of the outstanding memories I have of her last house, and I'm pleased to see the tradition continue... maybe it's a Dorset thing... Anyhow, she seems very settled and happy in her new home, and I wish her many happy times in it.

Is that Mont Blanc over there?

Finally, I've put some photos up from the Swiss Heidi adventure. Loved it, loved it, loved it... Want to go back sharpish and climb some more mountains :)

Dartmoor downpours...

We went cycling / walking in Dartmoor over the weekend; taking the foldy bikes on the train, cycling to Princetown from Plymouth along the Plym Valley Way. The walk on Saturday was sunny and fine, but the Sunday walk warranted outdoor survival training (it felt like!). Never have I appreciated waterproof trousers so much, nor hand driers in a friendly pub under which to dry them! M has a super researched *14* page feature on the hol; deffo worth checking out... :)

The North wind doth blow...

After some emergency glove (!!) purchases we cycled to Southwold Harbour and then walked through Walberswick Nature Reserve via the Suffolk Coast and Heath path... The nature reserve is beautiful in a weird flat, reedy way - and empty of humans for the most part, just hundreds of birds all twittering away in the wind.

Sheltered by a gorse bush it was just warm enough to picnic and then it was on to Dunwich, and to see in the Museum just *how much* of it has been washed away... It makes you wonder at the wisdom of locating a nuclear reactor on such a delicate coastline!?

Some good smells from today: tea, gorse (warm butter & almonds) cows, tar, salt, woodsmoke, apples, wisteria...

Down by the sea...

Arrived in Southwold this afternoon in sunshine but it's got colder and colder with a full on north eastern wind... It must have been that made the bike ride from Halesworth feel...ahem...harder than usual... It must be that right? :)

Went off to find food and drink; first to the King's Head (nice food, Adnams Explorer & Broadside but very quiet and a bit souless) then on to the Nelson - a proper friendly, lively pub with Aspell's cider (yum!) and a roasty open fire (necessary on this traditional British May night..)

We're staying right on the sea-front on the very top floor of Amber House.. You can hear the sea at night which I love...

Mad Jack's Pyramid

Managed to squeeze in a last minute visit to Brightling with S, P, little S and Billy - we wandered amongst the sheep and the gravestones in the fading sunlight before heading back to Stonegate.... all in all a fabulous 3 days!

pals

Locked out the b&b for a while so walk through St Bartholomew's church yard to the field overlooking the valley and sit in the sunshine reading the paper. P, S and her son come along and we walk down to feed P's horse some carrots... sit under oak trees and chat and then back to the pub to solve life's mysteries (and for little S to act out life with lego). Everyone so friendly, I feel v lucky.