For this Autumn’s outing with the caravan we went to Moreton, close to Dorchester. We stayed on the Camping and Caravanning Club site which stays open until early next year.
One of first outings was to Weymouth, see below, it was a lovely day and it was unseasonably warm. There is plenty to do and see in Weymouth, but my biggest gripe is the cost of parking which is astronomical – do they really want tourists?
Bathing Machine – Out of Use
The Church of St Nicholas and St Magnus was a normal little church with the usual amount of local history attached to it until it was hit by a fleeing German bomber in WW2. Once rebuilt, the stained glass was not replaced – instead a series of spectacular engraved glass windows were created by Laurence Whistler, brother of Rex Whistler.
T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) is buried in the churchyard which is just up the road.
On a rather dull day we went to Portland. Looking out over Chesil beach.
Portland Stone quarry – quarrying has taken place here for 2000 years. In 1619 when Inigo Jones chose Portland Stone to rebuild first the Banqueting Hall, London and then the original St Paul's Cathedral quarrying became very important for the area.
Portland Bill – it was rather windy and very bleak
Dorchester was founded by the Romans and by about 60 AD a town (mainly wooden structures) had grown up. It was called Durnovaria.
In the 2nd century AD stone buildings were erected. The town was fortified with a ditch and an earth embankment, probably with a wooden stockade on top. The town had a forum lined with shops and public buildings. There were also public baths. Water was bought into the town by aqueduct. Some rich people had mosaic floors and even a form of central heating.
Sue at the Roman Villa
Mosaic floor
Roman villa remains
This clock tower can be found in the Borough Gardens – it was presented to the Borough in 1905 by Charles Hansford Esq.
The gardens were really well kept and we thought a little gem being so close to the town centre.
No trip away happens without geocaching. We wanted a nice circular route which was not too demanding so we attempted these 5 geocaches called the ‘Shitterton Stroll’. Yep, you read it correctly! We managed all 5 caches despite a rather demanding hill en-route.
The road sign for Shitterton became rather collectable and it kept disappearing, so various people clubbed together to have this immovable sign made in Portland stone.
Towards the end of our visit to Dorset we had some very interesting weather which rattled the caravan around during the night. Following this we had a day of sunny weather so we took the awning down. It is now packed away for the winter.
On the Tuesday the weather forecast was for rain so we went to the Tank Museum at Bovington camp, only 10 minutes drive away.
Inside a WWI tank
Read this – double click to enlarge
If you look closely you can see where the shells have passed through the tank.
Whilst in the museum there was some filming taking place – presumably in preparation for Remembrance Day.
Sue exiting from the tank – it’s very tight in there.
We were interested in this graphic which shows the demarcation zone between East and West Germany prior to The Wall coming down. We were in Berlin many years ago and we went up to the demarcation fence (The Wall) only to be shouted at by West German police. Apparently we were well inside East Germany and this graphic shows that we were 100 metres inside. Oooops!
We returned home on the only good day of that week so we were very lucky.
On arrival at home my newly repaired computer was waiting for me. After sending Dell a threatening letter they collected, repaired and returned the computer free of charge. The motto here is if anything breaks down out of guarantee and is still reasonably ‘new’ use the Sale of Goods Act 1979 to get satisfaction.
And finally – we have a new shop in the centre of Ringwood which certainly brightens it up…..
