Glorious Finale

To the sea, always to the sea:

Another sky with threats and promises:

 Perhaps once a hideout for pirates (piracy was big in these parts) but now, alas, no access to the public:

A birdcage, bird feeders, little birdie rocking chairs, but no birds:

Shallow steps (the best kind) filled with stones:

Now THIS is a tree!

 Sailboats waiting:

And a church, also waiting:

By and by you come to Old Harry's Rocks:

Old Harry was an infamous pirate.  But now people kayak in Old Harry's territory:

Why are the people and the kayaks so small, you may wonder?  They aren't.  The photographer is so high up!

The last stretch of the walk is two and a half divine miles along the beach.  But I am not alone:

A section of the beach is "naturist."  But this guy did not take off his hoodie.  (His missus has already waddled into the sea):

I did conclude that the reason we wear clothes is because we look better with them on.

Marker of the end or the beginning.  A true bitter sweet moment:

The little yellow ferry to Poole:

Sunset over Poole Harbour as seen from my window at the RNLI College on August 29:

Penultimate Day

Walking through the military firing range at Lulworth is one of the highlights of this section.  It is demanding, gorgeous, and thrilling.  It would have been even more so had I not missed part of the dramatic coastline by dutifully following the instruction to "stay between the yellow markers."  One has to know that there are several sets of markers, but I, not knowing, did push on about a mile to the west.  As I was walking and walking and walking, I began to think, "It did not look like this when I did this bit with Ruth and Paul several years ago."  There had been wooden steps of the excruciating variety and wooden railings, but this time there were hills aplenty and steps, but not like those hills and those steps.  Finally consult GPSy and go, "OY!"  Fortunately, I was able to make my way back to the proper trail and exult in views like:

And this:

 The demanding climbs and matching steep descents did not end after the 7+ miles in the ranges.  They continued:

Some people do it another way:

One always wants to know what may be lurking inside:

Some sweetness in Worth Metravers after 17+ hard miles.

Heads you win:

Tails, you win, too:

Back to Gorgeous

Back in the world where every step is gorgeous.  Some ordinary sights that I love, wooden gates:

and wooden bridges:

Don't you love these names?

Nature's own sculpture in the sea:

As advertised above, the famous Durdle Door:

 View of same Durdle from little boat, not so impressive as you whiz by during your fifteen minute ride:

Cliff......first, down, slowly, very slowly, then up the other side:

Them boots look like my boots (minus the tape):

What a pair of hips:

South Dorset Ridgeway

Having walked from Lyme Regis to Poole before, I decided this time to do the South Dorset Ridgeway, an alternate route—still legitimate—but less popular.  First of course, I had to figure out how to access it.  While looking for the trail, I meet this blue couple:

Looking back at the sweet town of Abbotsbury through the mist on the way up to the ridge:

THE sight to visit on this route is the Hardy Memorial.  What a surprise to find out that a) the memorial was not a statue and b) though it is in memory of Thomas Hardy, it is not im memory of Thomas Hardy the author, who did live in these parts, but of Sir Thomas Hardy who fought with Nelson.  Story has it that when Nelson was fatally shot at the Battle of Trafalgar, Hardy was walking beside him on the deck of the ship, and as Nelson lay dying, he asked Hardy to kiss him, which he did:

There are animals who run away when you pass by:

And animals who run eagerly toward you:

I was kind of scared to do this route segment.  Would it be well marked? (It was quite well marked.)  Would it be tricky?  (It was tricky in parts.)  And when you are in a space like this:

you want to make sure you are crossing where you should be crossing.  In the fifteen miles of the walk, there were no facilities at all and I did not see a soul.  That is not so unusual, but this route felt especially remote.

One of the few buildings along the way:

 I got stung with nettles—that really hurts, even hours later—lost HAT (I have a spare), dropped GPSy and had to go back about 1/3 of a mile to find her (GPSy, I would walk back five miles to look for you), and it rained.  Oh....part of the walk was picture-book beautiful.

Full Day

Post trip posts due to consistent crashing of app.  Very annoying!!  But let's get on with it!

Today's mileage included the notorious Chesil Beach, where for a couple of miles that feel like forever, you walk on a thick bed of pebbles.  It is S L O W going.  The beach has these cabbage-like plants all over the place, maybe an indication that in the future, the surface will be quite different:

Ever since booking the walk, I had been looking forward to visiting Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens. They were Superb!  Beautiful layout, gorgeous collections, peaceful, everything gardens should be. Wish I had had more time.

I forget what this tree is called, a red something, but it is Asian (Chinese? Tibetan?)

Crossing the string bridge was fun!  It was not very high, I must confess:

Looking over a pond:

In the midst of it all:

Goldfish and lily pads:

But we can linger no longer in the delights of the gardens, because it is time to hightail it over to the Swannery, which I had visited and loved on the walk with Wendy several years ago.  I was in time for a lecture on birds of prey.  So many interesting facts!  Maybe I am mixing up the species, but I believe that this barn owl has an especially keen sense of hearing.  Indeed, it has one hear on the top of its head and one down the side of its face, and can use one or both as it sees fit—well, actually, it does not see well at all.  It flies noiselessly, and the guy giving the talk said that it can hear the heartbeat of its prey at a distance of, oy, I do not remember the distance, but it was impressive.  How anyone can know that it is the heartbeat that the bird hears as opposed to, say, the breathing, I have no idea.

This specimen was not intrigued by the lecture:

These two, more so:

Then off to the swans while thunder was rumbling in the background:

One—not one of those above—hissed at me so I changed my route.  This beauty was otherwise occupied:

Unprepared for the rain, I had to dash, and so we bid adieu: