30/5/11

On the way home we stopped in the small fishing village of West Bay. Part of the previously mentioned Jurassic Coast, the coastline here was stunning!

29/5/11

Next stop on the Dorset coastal tour was Corfe Castle. We drove by the castle when leaving Swanage a couple times, and each time the castle was just stunning. Situated on the top of a hill, it was quite a sight. The pic does not do it justice, but the wiki page has a few nice images.

26/5/11

Taking a break from the beach pics for some domestic goddess action. Today it's my cousins birthday, and I thought "what a great reason to bake a cake!" Unfortunately she is not here to eat the cake, but she is visiting next month so maybe I will bake her another! ;)

It was a very grey, windy, rainy day- perfect for baking. This is earl grey cake, with earl grey icing. Yum.

24/5/11

Next stop was Chesil beach. Chesil beach is 29 km long and connects Portland with the mainland, and then goes all the way down the Jurassic Coast. Its a pretty amazing sight to look at it on a map or google earth (click the wiki link to see the image of it). Large large stones made up this beach, and when the waves lapped the beach it made the most amazing sound on the rocks.

This is an area where divers go as well, and can enter from shore, instead of having to take a boat out. There was also a lot of rubbish washed up on this beach, not pretty. (Though an art project did come to mind ;)

23/5/11

Next stop was Portland. A little "island" off the coast. At one time it was only connected to the mainland by Chesil beach, a long sandbar of sorts. The way to get back from Portland to the mainland was through ferry, but a road is built there now. We drove to the southernmost tip where there was a lighthouse and the stunning coastline. (The tiny blue dot in the centre of the pic is a child running around the large rocks)

Portland harbor between Portland and the main coast is one of the largest man-made harbors in the world, and will be used for the 2012 Olympics, as sailing will take place in this area.

22/5/11

The next stop was a seaside town called Weymouth. It has a really lovely sand beach, as well as a fairly large dock for fishing boats, and diving boats. This is the place to go when the sun is out, as I guess the beach gets quite packed. We stopped here for fish & chips for lunch and it was pretty darn good. As you may imagine, fish and chip shops are everywhere at the seaside. Weymouth was one of the first tourist destinations in the late 1700's.

21/5/11

The next stop would be Durdle Door. A short walk along a hilly coast line to see it. How amazing is that?! The beach below was small pebbles, difficult to walk on. (I've also just read that Pink Floyd used an image from Durdle Door in one of their album covers. Wild)