Our stay at Portland marina was extended a little longer than we anticipated as adverse weather and tides prevailed for several days so we took the opportunity to explore the island of Portland and also the town of Weymouth. The number 1 bus service got us around and also proved useful for grocery shopping along with 'Doris' our shopping trolley on wheels.
Doris in action
Portland has much history with a Tudor castle and a Royal Naval air station (known to many as HMS Osprey) dating back to the First World War.
I love Portland Castle
Within the walls of the outer harbour lies one of the enormous floating concrete caissons used to construct the artificial 'Mulberry' harbours deployed for the D-Day landings in 1944. The harbour and the waters beyond were the venue for the sailing events in the London 2012 Olympic Games and as a result the marina and nearby sailing centre have some of the best facilities for sailing in the world. Portland is also home to a helicopter training school and we enjoyed watching as pilots from other countries were put through their paces in ex-Royal Navy Sea Kings.
Portland Bill, to the south of the island, is a spectacular headland with scenery like nowhere else in the country. Huge blocks of Portland stone lie strewn across the landscape and the remains of lifting cranes used to hoist the stone into ships can still be seen. We also came across rock climbers on the cliffs as we walked the coastal path.
Rock crane
Rocks, loads of 'em
Portland Bill light house
Weymouth was extremely busy with American tourists on a stop from their cruise ship. We went to the Custom House Quay in the old town where they filmed some of the scenes from the movie 'Dunkirk'.
Weymouth Harbour
Also spent some time on the beach (much less crowded) where the sand is said to be the best for producing sculptures. Robin just made a squidgy 'mud' pie.
And finally, we couldn't leave without scouring Chesil Beach for fossils. Could be a whole Tyrannosaurus rex just waiting to be discovered.
