21/9/2020 - Ferry Bridge to Osmington Mills (7.46mls)

As well as being a pilates and yoga teacher, Justine is also a keen runner and so was up early to dash off a quick 5K around Lulworth cove and captured many morning photos in the process ...

... and then taught a ZOOM Yoga class which DavidL had to do on the landing! ...

Starting at Ferry Bridge this walk was mostly along tarmac paths along the coast and through the southern suburbs of Weymouth to reach the bridge over the river via Nothe Point. Along the way Justine spotted a sad sign of the times in that there was a lady slumped against a wall seemingly in some distress. When she investigated the woman said she had mental health issues and that life was difficult but thanked Justine for her concern.

There was a ferry (rowing boat) operating on the day we were there but it had just left so we decided it would be quicker to cross by the bridge a little further along ...

A feature when DavidL was walking the SWCP with Fiona was the fact that in the early stage of any walk Fiona would be looking for an opportunity to stop for morning coffee.

Thinking he was now free from this was a mistake because although this was the afternoon Justine has a penchant for a particular mocha syrup and whipped cream drink and as there was not a Starbucks in Weymouth town centre we had to search out a second best Costa which we found in a pedestrian precinct just back from the esplanade. Whilst there we had a WhatsApp from Fiona to say that she was parked nearby so she came to join us for a short while before we set off for the long walk along the very attractive promenade. Well, the promenade and beach huts were attractive but some of the humanity on the beach were dead ringers to succumb to covid-19 if they were unfortunate enough to come into contact with it - rather like the comments we made when walking on Perranporth beach some years previously!

It was pleasing to see on the esplanade a very attractive floral tribute commemorating the 75th anniversary off VE day. It brought back memories of not just this but the fact that most seaside towns in the past had very comprehensive floral displays around the town, something that we suspect is one of the first departments to suffer from cuts in local council spending.

Moving away from the town and around towards Osmington Mills we got a closer view of the cruise ships ...

David and Fiona's son Alistair and family had been at a campsite near Osmington Mills a few weeks previously and had observed that when a storm reached the UK the cruise ships had disappeared, presumably out to sea, returning after the storm had passed through.

We were aware before setting out of a path diversion near Osmington Mills due to a landslip but whilst we could see where it was we couldn't see any path diversion signs. However, we followed the route that was detailed on the SWCP Association website ending up on the main road in Osmington village and as time was getting on Fiona picked us up from there and returned us to West Lulworth.

All in all a different walk from Isle of Portland but another 7.46miles covered at an average speed of 3mph.