Saturday 5th April 2025

 

Charmouth to West Bay  7 miles

Early start with breakfast at 0800.  Jubilee breakfast buffet is not bad.  We then drive to West Bay.  It’s essential that we get the 09.28 bus from West Bay to Charmouth.  We are starting our walk there following the advice of our official guide book.  The Lyme to Charmouth section is mostly on roads as the golf club doesn’t allow walkers along the cliff top.

There’s panic at West Bay because we can’t find the long-stay car park.  When Chris tracks it down we can’t get the ‘pay by card’ machine to work.  Minutes are ticking by.  It turns out that the bank has blocked my card. Using a different card we get to the bus stop just in time.

In Charmouth we find a delightful bakery who give us great coffee and beautiful croissants. We sit and enjoy them in the sun.  It’s a moment.  There’s a bitter-sweet aspect to these moments.  I am about to be 81 and I know that I will never come back.

Today, I have made a big and unusual mistake.  I haven’t read the guide for this bit of the walk.  Golden Cap? What’s that?  All the path signs point towards this mysterious destination.

The awful realisation dawns.  It is the highest cliff on the entire south coast of England.  I don’t tell Chris.

When it looms into view, Chris says:

“Well, I am not going up there.  Where is a detour round the back?”

“We are half-way up already” I say, optimistically.  “It’s no worse than Salcombe Hill”.

Slowly we get to the top.  A kind woman takes our picture.  It’s another moment.

There are more steep cliffs after Seatown, but the map shows options and we head inland.  The diversion adds distance and we don’t get to West Bay until 17.30.  We go into The George for a beer and drive back to Weymouth.

We head to the pub we discovered yesterday, The Black Dog. 

We are creatures of habit, and once we find a watering hole that we like, we tend to return.  We like the Black Dog a lot. It’s the oldest pub in Weymouth.  Good beer friendly staff and our kind of music.

We order food. Shepherds Pie for me fish pie for Chris.  £28.