Wednesday: 31st May: Weather: 8°C to 20°C: Cold, windy and overcast, then after 11am warm abd sunny
Penn Cross top West Bay: 16.0k walk: 5hrs: 9am to 2pm: 1 x 30min stop: Ascent: 650 metres
Accommodation: Little Greycot, Hill Close, West Bay
We found the BarBQ
Coffee near heater BEFORE leaving
Many diversions Coast path
Cairn's Folly view to Lyme Regis
Cairn's Folly view to Portland
Fields of Flowers in Dorset
Way up to Golden Cap at 191 Metres
Steep climb to Golden Cap
Coffee at top of Golden Cap
Lunch overlooking West Bay Harbour
Catching small crabs West Bay
Highlights of our day 18 were firstly finding the BarBQ that we couldn’t find last night for our sausages, then relaxing by the heater in the shepherd’s with a coffee before we leave on a cold, 8°C overcast day. By the time we climbed Golden Cap at 191 metres the day was lovely and warm, and the views over the Jurassic Coast to Devon in the east and Dorset to the west were stunning. More ups and downs sees us arrive early in West Bay on an almost hot afternoon.
We’re awake at 6am, and it’s freezing trotting over to the communal shower/toilet block about 50 metres away. It’s then I discover on closer inspection that the BarBQ we were looking for last night was in fact a tin bucket with a grate on top, parked under the cabin! We wouldn’t have been able to use it even if we found it - there was no wood or coals. A bit of a laugh! A cup of tea while huddled under the doona is warming before we have breakfast of muesli and yoghurt, and bread heated in the microwave with butter and jam.
After changing into our hiking gear and packing, we decide to have a cup of coffee with cream, until the weather warms up. An hour later at 9am, when it's 2°C warmer at 10°C, we head off down the main road,looking for signs to rejoin teh SWCP which we know has been diverted - that’s why we took a bus for the last part of the walk yesterday. We soon find the sign and follow the pretty Stonebarrow Lane up a long hill until the turnoff to the originak SWCP at Cain’s Folly with views up and down the coast.
Following the signs to Golden Cap, we can see it will be a steep climb - at 191 metres, not high by alp standards but it’s high by SWCP standards. At least climbing warms the body and after two and a half hours, we reach the top and find a sheltered patch overlooking the stretch of Bay to the Isle of Portland and the Dorset Ridgeway which we’ll be walking in two days time. Coffee time with a fig roll.
Then a steep descent into Seatown, where there’s another holiday park full of cabins, followed by another steep ascent to Thorncombe Beacon, down into Eype mouth, then another ascent over West Cliff, and down into West Bay at 2pm. Time for a late lunch, and to celebrate the QLD Origin win which my brother John has just relayed to us by phone. West Bay isn’t a pretty fishing village, but rather outdated "Coorparoo style" 6 packs of units spread eagled around the port. The famous sandstone East Cliff at West Bay, formed from during the Jurassic period exposes 180 million years of history and makes West Bay a tourist hotspot for fossil hunting.
Wandering around the man-made harbour, there’s dozens of school children on holidays catching 2 inch wide baby crabs using a corded string and squid bait on the end. The aim of the game is to catch as many as they can, then release them at the end of the day. As one girl told me “we’ll be back in two days time to catch them all again.” Wandering around town, filling in time until our Air BnB opens at 4pm, we check out the fish n chip shops, and the local grocery stores for dinner supplies. We decide to take a chance to see if our place at Little Greycot, Hill Close is available and it is. The key code works so we’re in and have a quick check to see if there’s a fridge etc, there is. So Ian pops back to the local grocer Nisa to buy some cheese, yoghurt and beers. There’s no Spar or Co-op handy.
It’s a warm sunny afternoon and I wash our socks etc and put them in the sun, while Ian trots off to buy a few essentials - a 4 pack of Guinness, cheese and yoghurt. He returns just as I’m laying out the socks in the sun and hanging our shirts on the rail in the room. Ian has a beer while I blog. At 5pm when the S and E Fish and chip shop opens he goes back to join the already long queue and returns 45 minutes later with two large pieces of battered cod, a medium serve of chips, and a cup of tartare sauce. Way too much for me, I said. But somehow we managed to demolish the lot washed down with the remaining 3 cans of Guinness.
By 7.30pm our washing is dry and time to read up on the next few days walking. Tomorrow we start the Dorset Ridgeway to Abbotsbury and the next day is a 22k long day finishing the Ridgeway wal near Osmington.
Excess baggage from 3 Capes