West Bay to Abbotsbury

West Bay to Abbotsbury - Friday 24th April 2015

Path Facts - Length: 9.3 miles, ascent 665 ft

Left before 9am. Overcast day. Got a packed lunch from the B&B and a snack top up from the local Spar.

The first hill up and out of West Bay is short but sharp and there were a few similar ones until Burton Bradstock where the path joins the start of Chesil Beach.

I could see why some would find Chesil Beach far from exciting walking. You have to stay back from the edge to avoid wading through shingle. This means you can't see the sea. It's all pretty flat and, as it was misty, there wasn't much to see of anything! Having said that, I like variety and this was different.

We had a short stop at West Bexington for a snack then forged on. From a previous visit I seem to remember St Catherine's Chapel on the hill at Abbotsbury being visible from some distance away. But couldn't see much of anything today.

The path cuts inland at Abbotsbury avoiding a marathon long trudge along Chesil Beach. We cut up the hillside to the chapel and sat and had lunch outside overlooking the quaint village of Abbotsbury. A nice, peaceful spot to stop at the end of this particular leg.

A take away tea a cafe in Abbotsbury then sat at the bus top for the trip into Weymouth. The bus takes about 35 mins and dropped us right at the King's Statue at sea front about 1 minutes walk from the B&B. Dropped our packs off and had a wander around Weymouth. I've been here years ago but had better memories of it. Felt a bit run down and a few too many pub crowd types.

We'll be back here in August for a few days to do the stretch around Weymouth and Portland.


Info

Accommodation - B&B Weymouth

Location *** really central, but this also meant noise from pub crowd, friendly staff

Room **** basic but spacious and comfortable

Facilities ****

Noise **

Food ****

Ambience **

Price *** £80 for the room


Food – Prezzo

Quality ***

Price ***

Lyme Regis to West Bay

Lyme Regis to West Bay - Thursday 23rd April 2015

Path Facts - Length: 9.8 miles, ascent 2687 ft

8am - Very nice veg breakfast. Overcast.
The route out of Lyme Regis feels rather bitty. It tries to stay clear of the road but then just feels like a bit of an unnecessary detour. There's a really dilapidated crazy golf course shortly before cutting through Lyme Regis golf course. We were trying to think of ways to big it up and get it some publicity. Maybe Gene Simmons from Kiss complete with flame throwing cod-piece singing "We've got crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy golf!", or Seal: "We're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy (golf)". Err, It was funny at the time, you probably had to be there.

The path out of Lyme Regis climbs up to a fair height then levels off through the golf course before dropping right down again into Charmouth. It would be possible to avoid some of this but we wanted to have a look at the fossil museum and shop there which is well worth a look.

We had to wait in the cafe for half hour though for the museum to open at 10.30am. Not the greatest cafe. Luke warm coffee and not particularly friendly. Its funny the narrowness of the world some people live in. Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage site and people come from all the round the world to see it. Seems that some people who've always lived there don't feel the significance of the place very much.

There were loads of sparrows outside nesting in the wall.

Gambled with walking through the closed path through another landslip. Although quite a large area had slipped it was by quite a small amount. Hence walking wasn't difficult.

After a few undulations the ascent to Golden Cap begins. This is the highest point on the South Coast but is still only a measly 627 ft as opposed to High Cliff at Crackington Haven at 735 ft or Great Hangman at 1043 ft. Nonetheless, a reasonably sharp ascent to some great views at the top. Sunny by this point but a coldish breeze on top.

Descended into Seatown for lunch at the Anchor Inn. Good food. Not that cheap.

Ascending again to cliff height after Seatown there are some great views back to Golden Cap and on towards West Bay and the near vertical cliffs that surround it.

Having again gained a fair amount of height the descent to West Bay is quite a long way down! West Bay was great. We really enjoyed it. Arrived about 3pm.

There's an interesting little alternative cafe type area, a good choice of restaurants, inland paths along the river and a disused railway line and the spectacular vertissimo cliffs.

Particularly recommend the "Snack Shack" amongst the little group of food outlets at the harbour. The gnarly guy who runs it has a pretty sharp wit. There is  the usual SWCP crime element though...

Yet another great B&B at Seadale. Really nice room. You can walk along the river back to the centre of West Bay for food. We stopped at the George in the PM for food and drink.


Info

Accommodation - Seadale

Location **** a bit off the path but a good location nonetheless

Room *****

Facilities *****

Noise *****

Food ****

Ambience ****

Price **** £70 for the room


Food – The George

Quality ****

Price ***