Arriving in Weymouth we first met up with Charles and his cousin Tom for a pint at the Spyglass pub. It sits up on a hill and has a lovely view of the sea and nearby cliffs. Weymouth itself is a bit obscured by some recently developed houses but that did not detract from our enjoyment. It was nice to see Shirley and Gemma again even though it had only been a few weeks since we were together in Canada during my father’s illness. We had a lovely curry dinner (thanks to Shirley) and a pleasant evening.
On Saturday morning the plan was to go on a hike along the coast at a place called Lulworth. The group consisted of Shirley, Gem, Sid, Charles and Charles’ sister Kate whom I’d met before at the wedding. It was a gorgeous day although a bit windy at times. West Lulworth was a beautiful little hamlet tucked between a couple of hills by the seaside. There were quite a few others with the same idea as us as we ended up parking in overflow parking in a field beside the regular car park. As wise hikers we decided to fuel up with a drink at the pub before setting off.
Charles and Gem had brought a book about hikes in Dorset so we followed the guide and were well underway with a climb up a 120 meter high hill to the east of Lulworth. The view was spectacular and well worth the price of admission. Below was a nearly perfectly circular bay, Lulworth Bay, which was a popular smuggling spot in days gone by. We reached the end of the ridge and there was a sign for an optional section of the hike was to check out the “fantastic fossil forest” as the book put it. Unfortunately the forest was a steep descent back down the hill we’d just climbed and it was quite steep although there were some steps embedded in the hillside. Only Charles and I were up for the exertion required so we began trotting down the stairs as the others waited. We reached the bottom and entered a small forested bit but did not see anything fossilized. We came out in a clearing and the path led us to a fence which cordoned off the military’s artillery range. Just beyond the fence the sign indicating that the fossil forest was down below a cliff we could not reach nor could we see anything....so it was a bust. Oh well, some good exercise...we jogged back to the base of the hill and then swiftly climbed it. The hike then continued along the middle spine of the mound and back down towards the town. We then walked by a farm along the backside of another hill, by a caravan park and to the coast where there were a few magnificent rock arches along the coast, the big one being known as Durdle Door. Gem bought us all ice cream and then we began the final leg of the hike back to Lulworth. In the end we covered over 7 kilometers and we all fully enjoyed it and we capped it off with another pint in the pub (now we felt like we deserved it!).
Lulworth Bay:
The hikers:
Stymied by the army:
Durdle Door:
Spectacular views:
That evening more of Charles’ family came over for a barbeque and to watch England versus the US in the World Cup. Leslie his mom, Tom his cousin, Lisa his sister with her husband Steve and kids Emily and Charlotte joined all of us who had hiked earlier. Steve cooked up a storm and I couldn’t believe how much food there was. We were all kitted up with our England shirts and even a goofy red and white hat with fake white braids. The game started off well with England scoring early but later the US scored a fluky one as the English goalie bobbled the ball. It was pretty obvious that the viewers in the house were not impressed with a draw with the United States!
Come on England!
On Sunday I took Steve up on an offer to try and mend Betty’s skylight cover. I don’t think he realized what he got himself into. We made a wooden frame around the base of the cover as some of the corners no longer existed and then the plan was to fibreglass over it. Steve had a fibreglass kit from many years ago that he had planned to use to fix his surfboard but he ended up just getting a new one. On our first attempt we miscalculated a bit on one of the batches and put too much of one of the chemicals which caused the fibreglass to have a lovely strawberry jam colour to it and it also hardened quicker than we could apply it. So we had to drive into town to get some more of these lovely chemicals for round two. An hour or two later we had a finished product, albeit not terribly appealing to the eye but quite functional. Now, the challenge to attach it to Betty... The original reason it blew off was that I hadn’t completely closed the vent and it is attached by four meagre plastic bits, actually only three as I found out a month before when I had taken it off to clean it. We super glued and then fibreglassed the pieces but it became obvious that it wasn’t going to do the trick. I was surprised when Steve offered to help construct a wooden contraption to keep it on, surprised as we’d now been at it for over three hours and he was going well and above the call of duty. So we set about fashioning something up and I’m pleased to say that in the end I have a solid lid (or hat as Sonia calls it) on Betty. Granted it doesn’t open anymore but if I’m staying somewhere for a while, I just have to remove four screws and I should have ventilation while not losing the rain cover. Thanks so much Steve...you are a top notch guy!
Betty's new hat:
Thanks to all of this, Sid and I got on the road later than expected. We arrived to Aldershot after 10pm and as I parked Betty in the lot, I pulled out the key and....damn, Betty’s still running! The problem’s back again...yet another item to get fixed before I can hit the open road. Oh Betty, please be kind to me...
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