dst. (km)
Today	89.45
Trip total	??
Odometer	1039.7

Worst part of the day — stopping to grab some fish and chips in Swanage from The Fish Plaice and breaking a tooth on a piece of grit in the second chip I ate. Staff in the shop couldn’t care less, grabbed another chip out of the fryer, poked it with their fingers and declared “nuffin wrong with em”.

I’m staying in a B&B because the YHA is shut! There are no people, no signs, no messages on the answering machine, nothing. Just an empty building and a recording of “we can’t answer the phone, please leave a message and we’ll call you back,” which is of zero use if I don’t have a number to be called back on! To make it more inconvenient, the YHA is most of the way up a hill, and the nearest phone-booth is down at the harbour, so I rode up and down a very steep road about three times. Eventually I gave up and checked into a B&B.

This morning I rode up around the Isle of Portland, there was a local cycle race around the roads on the top and they all laughed when I rode into the start with the panniers and asked if they were accepting late entries, and what was the handicap for 20kg of gear. Lots of motor-bikes around as well, all out for their Sunday ride. Stopped to look at the lighthouse, and was reminded of a conversation a few days ago with someone who said he was photographing every lighthouse he came to because his mother collected lighthouses… mostly just photos and models, I don’t think she had a real one yet.

I didn’t end up leaving Weymouth until 1 pm, there was a parade of WWII vets and vehicles celebrating the Queen’s birthday, people everywhere and traffic brought to a standstill. It felt like being on the set of Dad’s Army! One of the last groups to drive past was a collection of motor-bikes and bicycles, with one of the bikes stalling on the start line and refusing to restart. When it eventually could be kicked into life, the crowd gave the rider and round of applause.

After sitting and watching the parade I made my way to the ferry terminal and found out that although the day return ticket to Jersey is £29, they want £51 for a one-way ticket! I could try for a day-return, but was told that if they suspect that I’m “miss-using it,” when I get to Jersey, I’ll be charged double the day return, minus what I’ve spent already!

Left Weymouth along the A353, then followed the A352 to the delightfully named town “Wool,” just another of the towns I seem to find that have a single noun for a name – so far I’ve found “Wool,” “Beer” and “Rock.” Turned off at Wool down the B3071, then down a lane through Coombe Keynes, Shaggs and on to East Lulworth.

The ride out through the Dorset countryside from there was through an army firing range! It took me some time to convince myself that I’d taken the right turn, and I retraced my steps back to East Lulworth a couple of times before I was sure. Very strange to see burnt out tanks sitting in the fields besides the roads.

Corfe Castle looked very impressive, towering ruins poking up out of the trees. I ran into a large group of motor-cyclists out for a Sunday run there, some of them were the same group I’d met in Portland this morning. From there it was back onto the A351 for a busy road down into Swanage.

Once in Swanage, it was up and down the hill trying to get into the Youth Hostel before eventually settling on a B&B, some of these places must seriously believe that Faulty Towers is a training video.

Where?

Portland, Weymouth(50.6,-2.45), Wool, Coombe Keynes, Shagg, East Lulworth, Swanage(50.6,-1.9666667)