Day 30 - Portland, Portland Bill, Castletown, Wyke Regis, Weymouth

Thursday 15th August
Total: 590+m  / Daily: 22m  / Scattered Showers /

I wandered through and around old quarrying sites looking at the amazing sculptures chiseled out of the Portland stone (a few photos in the album) arriving at the Bill just as things were beginning to wake up. I gave the National Coastwatch volunteer a wave on my way round and began heading north back up the east side of the almost-island.

I passed two prison sites with very different architecture. The first had metal gates, copious amounts of razor wire, high metal fencing the sort of thing you would expect from a modern ish building. The second however was far more interesting. The Verne prison was built in the 19th century by prisoners to the design of a Captain Crossman of The Royal Engineers and is set into the hills of north Portland. Much of the stone is invisible from the south, high banks of grass form a verge which meets the exterior wall before a void and finally the prison wall. The south entrance was a raised concrete platform across the gap with a wide fence and locked gate disappearing behind a solid door into the side of the hill. Maybe the front is more normal, I didn't see it, but the back of this prison is intriguing. One man told me that in 2004 a man escaped in a laundry bag (cutting himself out of the bag later with the metal edge off the top of a lighter according to wikipedia!) to visit his mother. Wikipedia also talks of escaping over the walls using knotted sheets, this is the stuff of The Great Escape!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_The_Verne

Met and chatted with Roger (picking blackberries for fruit compote to have with yogurt for breakfast, delicious!) and Nigel (out walking with friends and family) who noticed that I 'looked like a walker'. I must be showing some fatigue from the prawn toast incident (Day 29 blog). Anyway, it was enjoyable to share stories and experiences and I thank you both for your kind support.

Almost off Portland at this point, time to walk the causeway on the eastern pavement this time.

I saw this situation unfold but somehow knew it was going to end badly before it happened. The route between the Portland causeway and Weymouth is a tarmac shared cycle and walkway which avoids the busy road. There was a family of 4 walking towards me and a father and son on bikes behind them, also coming towards me. The family didn't know the bikes were there and they were taking up the whole width of the path. Seeing me further down the track, one moved across, both bikes accelerated at this point assuming the gap was for them and I stopped walking so as not to crash into someone. Dad had more inertia than Son but both seemed to be going for a one person space. Son was on the outside and pulled in. Dad would have crashed into family because of this so pushed against Son's bike. (Apologies for the long build up). This sent son flying off the walkway into a hedge of brambles and nettles at about 10 mph. Dad duly picked his son out of the bush whilst the family were all making 'oh no' type noises. I walked by with a straight face then once safely clear, grinned from ear to ear. It was hilarious! The Dad had literally pushed his son into a bramble bush!

I walked through the busy parts of Weymouth and as the beach calmed down towards the eastern end, my desire to have a swim increased! Up until now, I've not been that fussed about swimming but I found a spot with no other people and was soon paddling about. I did swim properly, but not for long. Spent most of the time washing (dont worry, it's organic biodegradable soap) but didn't realise that greasy hair + seawater + biosoap = the most powerful hair gel ever. At least it's not in my eyes when vertical... 

Found a good spot to camp and was ready to go to sleep by 9. I got back out to add a couple more tent pegs (good job I did, read tomorrow) and saw some lights on the cliff edge in the distance. A whole series of them, moving towards me at a decent speed. My first thought was the National Trust police were coming to arrest me, but I realised it was bikes. I took a video of them speeding by and it's the first time I've seen a group out for a night ride (video shared in the photo album, click the album on the right).