NB - you should now see an option to sign up for email updates on this blog. It was a bit tortuous to find out how to do it so if it doesn't work please let me know. Also, apologies for a very long blog this time: I need an editor!
Not the best weather but this is the payoff at the end of the 9 mile circumnavigation of the Isle of Portland. It's Chiswell/Fortuneswell from Tophill, with Chesil Beach - all 18 miles of it - towards The Fleet (where Barnes Wallis tested his bouncing bombs) and Abbotsbury, which is for another day. The stones making up the beach are large at this end, much finer by West Bay. Portland is a very 'separate' place with strange customs - it's forbidden to refer to rabbits here, only 'underground racehorses'. When the Wallace and Gromit film 'The Curse of the Were Rabbit' came out, the posters on Portland were changed to 'Something Bunny is Going On'.
You can see the full walk with all the pictures here plus the map and stats (speed, time, all that) on Komoot. I really like this app as it's so easy that it encourages me to take more photos and they're all tagged with time and place, so I can't forget. Tell me if there's anything you want me to change about it.
However, it's not great for actually writing the commentary (and on the SWCP walk I'll probably do that at the end of the day anyway) so back to the blog. The walk is part of the official SWCP and starts at Portland Castle (an English Heritage site, see here). This and the breakwater were constructed from stone quarried on the island and the walk soon finds the old track down which they lowered the stone-carrying carts for the breakwater in the 1850-1870s. When completed it was the largest man-made harbour in the world and it's still #3. Then it's a stiff climb (600ft according to Komoot) up to the Verne Citadel. This is also Victorian and a massive construction that effectively takes up the entire hill top. It's now an immigration detention centre but from 2011 to 2013, although being a prison, it opened the Jailhouse Cafe to help reduce re-offending. I'd love to have seen it.
By this stage I was walking in cloud so the views were only imaginary. Luckily I've done this walk before so I knew what they were! The route goes alongside a small farm where kids can come to see and touch the animals. There were some pretty forlorn-looking wallabies but at least it wasn't actually raining - not yet. Next comes the Young Offenders Institute, another Victorian construction and pretty bleak from the outside. Not guaranteed to motivate a change in behaviours you'd think but a local equine therapy company (Paintedhorse.org.uk) has been doing some inspiring work there with great results.
The path then drops down onto the East side of the island and this is my favourite area. Much less visited or known it's rough and scruffy and deserted, just my kind of place. There's miles of terrain like this:
From there it's an amble along to Church Ope Cove. Why 'Ope' I've no idea - maybe opening but then why Cove as well. Anyway it's a lovely spot, really tucked away although somewhat exposed to Easterlies which regularly remodel the beach front. (It was a cruel trick to padlock the toilets, even though I wasn't expecting to find them anyway). It used to be sandy but is now covered by quarry debris become shingle and is believed to have been the site of the first ever Viking attack on Britain in 789AD. So now you know.
From there it's about 2 miles to the southern tip of the Island: Portland Bill. Along the way are several sites where they lowered the quarried stone onto barges alongside the cliffs and one or two of the cranes survive. It must have been pretty hazardous even on a calm sea.
By now the weather was turning and the promised rain 'showers' arrived (more prolonged downpour I reckon) so I didn't bother with pictures of the lighthouse on the Bill. It started in 1906 and is still operational but unmanned since 1996. It took over from the original two lighthouses that date back to 1716. The lower one became a bird observatory and the higher one was home to Marie Stopes until 1958 - it's a holiday let now.
The rain set in and the west side was a bit of a slog but a good chance to check out the gear. For persistent rain Goretex is no good as, like almost all other membrane systems, it eventually wets out as I found to my cost walking the Lulworth ranges. Paramo works differently and kept me bone dry throughout. Also kudos to my friend Pete who recommended my shoes (Lowa). These were ideal when combined with gaiters. They're not much more than trainers in size but the lack of ankle support didn't seem to matter and I had no blister issues (on my Hagland's Deformity: he can have it back frankly) unlike my full size boots. It's a good example of how it's very easy to over-specify the gear you need.
The weather thankfully cleared by the time I got to Tout Quarry, another favourite of mine where a sculpture park has been made out of the disused quarry "..giving back where so much had been taken away", a nice sentiment. A local couple now run sculpture courses locally, in the quarry itself in summer, but it started in 1983 with artists residences. There are no plaques or maps, you just have to discover for yourself which only adds to the magic. There's an Anthony Gormley there if you can find it (I didn't) - the Falling Man. You can see some more pictures here, this is the Philosophers Stone
From there it's all (severely) downhill to Chiswell (previously Chesilton). Most of this is below the height of the beach; it's actually at sea level but the beach and sea defences are very large because of its vulnerability to storms. It's a small and quirky place, like most of Portland (see Rabbits, above) as you can see:
On the subject of quirks, reputedly one of Portland's quainter customs is to wait until the bride-to-be gets pregnant before getting engaged: that way, there's no doubt about the couple's ability to raise a family. It's a different world.
And after all that, back to the car at Portland Castle. This has been a way longer blog/ramble than I intended, I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the walk.
Peter
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