Sunday, 25 March 2018
Islept well at the Portland YHA and woke early. There were only two us in an eight-bed dorm so there had been plenty of room and very little noise.I headed to the kitchen for some coffee and breakfast and afterwards to the drying room. I had attempted to clean off the mud from my waterproofs from the previous day. My plan today was to walk the coast path around Portland and then walk into Weymouth to catch a train to Wool. Susan and her friends were walking in the Lulworth area and would have to pass the small village of Wool. Luckily there is a train there from Weymouth…
Friday, 23 March 2018
Susan had arranged to meet up with friends for a girly walking weekend in Dorset and not wanting to miss the opportunity to complete the section of South West Coast Path between Abbotsbury and Portland, I decided to tag along. The chosen venue was the Youth Hostel at Litton Cheney, a small village nestled just under the A35 near Dorchester in Dorset. We had arrived at the hostel after dark and in the pouring rain and having only just managed to find somewhere to park we then struggled to get everything inside without it getting wet. Litten Cheney is a small hostel with only twenty-two beds and incredibly small dorms…
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Everything that I had read told me that this was going to be a difficult day so I knew that this walk was going to be tough. It is rated ‘severe’ and I was adding an extra three miles to it. I had thought about splitting the walk into two days but trying to do this anywhere near accommodation or campsites and use public transport just made it too difficult so in the end, I decided to just ‘go for it’. On the day the temperature was expected to reach 28 degrees and there was a strong southerly wind blowing at around 35 kmph which would mean that it would…
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Setting off early I managed to reach Hartland Quay just before 09:00 where I was able to park my car and then had to walk the three miles back to Hartland in order to catch the bus to the Clovelly Visitor Centre. This walk is graded as ‘moderate to strenuous’ which seems fair. The path to Mouth Mill was easy enough and the climb up from the mill to Brownsham Cliff was the first steep climb of the day and was quickly followed by another at Windbury but from then on it is straightforward enough all the way to the Radar Station at West Titchberry Cliff. Just below the Radar…
Saturday, 12 May 2012
It had been a while since I had stopped at Westward Ho! and I was keen to tackle the next sections of the coast path as far as Bude but the remoteness of these sections and the lack of accommodation meant that I had to wait until the weather and public transport were both right. Clovelly to Westward Ho! is 11.2 miles with 789 meters of ascent as is graded as strenuous. I parked my car in the car park at Westward Ho! and then caught the bus to Bideford where I had to wait quite a while for the bus to the Clovelly Visitor Center. Although Clovelly is a…
Thursday, 22 March 2012
This was day two of my little adventure and already I knew I was not going to be as lucky as I had been yesterday. I walked from my accommodation up to the bus station in St Austell and caught the bus back to Fowey. As I sat on the bus I could see the dark clouds forming above and by the time the bus had reached Fowey a light drizzle filled the air. I made my way over to the Ferry Terminal just in time to see the Polruan Ferry arrive. I jumped aboard and within a few minutes we were crossing the wide Fowey estuary and as we…
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Ileft the house just after 06:30 and walked the three miles to the train station in the early morning sun. The weather forecast was for cloud and rain across the South West but so far the clouds had been slow to arrive. I caught the Penzance train from Newton Abbot and arrived in St Austell shortly after 09:00 only to find that the clouds had already beaten me there. I had planned a two day trip with accommodation in St Austell but I would have to carry everything with me on both days as I had decided to leave the car at home and use the train – the…
Sunday, 28 August 2011
My plans for the Bank Holiday got squashed on the Friday evening and so at the last minute, I decided to complete this section of the SWCP instead. I booked return train tickets online for just £12.00 and then on Sunday I walked the 2.5 miles to the train station and caught the train to St Austell. A few hours later I was stepping off the train and heading down to the town. I now had 1 hour to kill before the bus would arrive to take me to Gorran Haven and so I did the only thing I could. Right opposite the Bus Stop was Frankie & Benny’s …
Sunday, 06 March 2011
Iwalked this section with two friends and this meant that we had the luxury of having two cars. So meeting at Lynmouth we left a car there and drove to Porlock Weir in the other. At Porlock Weir, there is a large car park opposite the Ship Inn which is also where the bus service runs from should you choose to take the bus as I had done previously. The South West Coast Path is hidden between the Ship Inn and the Anchor Inn, which are right next to each other and opposite the car park. The path takes you up quickly above the small harbour and into fields…
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Iwas keen to crack on with the northern part of the South West Coast Path and had decided that I would start at the beginning, in Minehead. My original plan was to park in Porlock Weir and then catch the 09:30 bus to Minehead and then walk the SWCP back to Porlock Weir but I arrived in Minehead at 07:45 and so decided to park there, walk to Porlock Weir and then catch the 12:30 bus back – if I missed the 12:30 bus I could wait out the two hours until the next one in the Pub – The Ship Inn. It was a grey and gloomy morning…