Gosh that meal last night at the Halsey Arms, talk about a huge! Stuffed full to bursting by the time we finished, and I had even ordered the small portion as my main meal! It was the starter that did it. Combo for two, it was a meal in itself. Chicken wings, breaded mushrooms, Brie, garlic bread. spring rolls and one other that I can't remember. Oh, but how delicious was that food. For my main I had Steak and Ale pie with chips and two veg and Ian, unwisely, ordered the large Ham egg and chips. His meal arrived with three huge thick slices of ham, three eggs and a mountain of chips, he thought afterwards maybe the small portion would have been a better idea. No photo of the mains 'cos I forgot!
This pub also had certain facilities we could use, especially emptying the elsan and topping up with water so before we left, and after a phone call to the proprietor to open the manhole for us, (it had been arranged last night) we set off to do Stoke Gaylard house. Only just down the road we thought we may as well have a look. It is another Historic House with this description:- Built in 1720 the Georgian House overlooks an ancient deer park with extensive gardens of wide lawns edged with box hedges, herbaceous borders and specimen trees.
I rather fancied a look at the deer park, but this was another of those houses that only opened at certain times. 2 pm was too long for us to hang around, seeing as the time now was 10 am. Plan B go to Weymouth to the RSPB centre at Radipore Lake
Took a good 90 minutes to reach Weymouth, found the centre very easily. It's the last place one would expect a Nature reserve right in an urban setting, but it's vast, at least 83 hectors or 205 acres of wetlands and walks. The car park was massive, nearly empty, I expect it's because the Bank Holiday rush was now over. Ian went to pay and came back with a worried look. The notice said no motorhomes longer than 4.8m permitted! Oh, dear...We are roughly 6.8m with the box on the back!
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Do we risk it? At least 5 other motorhomes were in the car park, none had parking notices on them, so we decided to keep fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Rain had been forecast this afternoon, it was still morning, so we hoped to spend the 2 hours at the centre in the dry. unfortunately not many wild fowl or birds were seen, could it be due to bird flu? One bird I was desperate to photograph was the Cetti's Warbler. Oh, we heard its call, very loud and the occasional glimpse was seen but to get the photo, not a chance. At one of the small bridges, huge carp were seen. The 'no fishing' signs were ever present!
Paths lead to different parts of the reserve we had been given a small map and chose the one to the bird hide thinking it to be the shorter. Well it may have been but we seemed to be walking for ages before eventually arriving.
Not much going on at first but then a Little Egret arrived, camera was clicking away constantly. I have put a selection of wildlife photos at the end of the post.
The rain came just as we made it to the café. A cheese scone (nowhere near as good as Marilyn's) butter and a cup of tea, very welcome nevertheless. The girl in the café then asked if we were keen on birds because at Southwell near to Portsmouth Bill a Bee Eater had been spotted. We looked at each other, should we go? Well why not, so during a lull in the rain, we raced back to MB. With some trepidation, Ian looked at the windscreen. Phew, no parking fine, we got away with it this time!
Driving through Weymouth and waiting at traffic lights, noticed the Weymouth Town bridge was open. Apparently the bridge opens every 2 hours from 8 am up to 6pm. I bet the local car owners love that!
The village of Southwell is Dorset most Southerly village. It was small and when we arrived, cars, vans and the odd motorhome had parked either side. The road was almost impassable and when we noticed twitchers with their cameras and massive long lenses, we knew this was the place, There was no way we were going to add to the congestion by trying to park, instead, managing to squeeze through the mass of parked cars, just, headed of to have a look at Portland Bill.
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| New lighthouse above and old lower one below |
We decided not to visit there today. Those dark clouds were following us around, and we didn't fancy being caught out in the rain. With no plans at the moment, this was planned for something to do tomorrow.
It was off to find somewhere to stay for the night. At New Ground car park, Portland, we found what we were looking for. It had been quite a drive up, views looked down over Chesil Beach. Three car parks could have been used, we chose the first of them. Boulders lined the entrance, and we managed to squeeze in-between two of the biggest. Nothing on the board to say no overnight parking, so here we will stay for tonight. The rain eventually arrived, we watched it coming in from the sea.
Once the rain stopped, we went exploring and what a surprise to find a prison! Called HMS The Verne the entrance we were at looked very disused. Thinking this could not possibly be still in use, reading this changed our minds.
And on the web it stated this was a prison for convicted male sex offenders!
And now to the wildlife,
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