The view out of the bedroom window
A Walk to Portland Bill, Portland, Dorset - 16th April 2025
Sean and Nosher head out for an epic walk almost all the way around the Isle of Portland, starting from Hannah's house in Easton with a first stop at Tout Quarry Sculputre Park followed by the Jailhouse Café, which is actually inside The Verne Category-C prison, where we have bacon baps to keep us going. From there, we walk out to the coast path past Nicodemus Knob - a relic from quarrying days which shows where the original top of the land used to be - and the Young Offenders' Institute, and then on to Southwell, via the High Angle Battery, some very dramatic quarries and piles of Portland stone. We rejoin regular roads for a bit, then wander through some sort of shed city before reaching the lighthouse on Portland Bill. After a while, Hannah phones Sean and ends up giving us a lift back, but by then we'd done around 35,000 steps. Later, as if we hadn't done enough walking, Sean drives us to Weymouth for another - albeit shorter - walk to the breakwater and back, but at least there's a chance for a well-earned beer at the Royal Oak by the river.
next album: Folk Night at the Sailor's Return, Weymouth, Dorset - 16th April 2025
previous album: Mudeford Quay, Christchurch, and the Trip to Portland - 15th April 2025
The graveyard of St. George's Church, Reforne
Sean wanders around in the graveyard
Fragments of gravestones in a bomb crater
The rugged cliffs of Portland
Sean on the clifftop
A pile of flat rocks
A carved owl in Tout Quarry Sculpture Park
A sculpture of the Roy Dog in Tout Quarry
Sean stands by a ringing bowl sculpture
A stone Viking ship
More carved rocks in Tout Quarry
A view of Fortuneswell from near the Heights Hotel
The stacked terraced houses of Fotuneswell
The Olympic Rings of Portland
Portland Cenotaph
Sean stomps up some stone steps
An unfinished and derelict hotel
RFA Argus, A135, in port
We head into the Verne Prison
Derelict houses in The Verne
Sean mills around by the Jailhouse Café
Sean leans on the stocks
More derelict buildings
A giant dry moat around the old Citadel
There's a weird picture of Cliff Richard on a gate
Sean heads off
The tunnels of the High Angle Battery
Sean in the tunnels
A restored 9' heavy gun
We explore the battery
Graffiti tunnels
Nicodemus Knob in East Cliff
We walk around the perimeter of the YOI
One of many curious ventilation towers
The Young Offenders institute looks like Dartmoor
A view of the Purbecks from East Cliff
Another active quarry
Piles of freshly-quarried Portland stone
A tower watches a pile of stone
Wandering around the strange quarry landscape
More piles of giant stone cubes
There's a random block of pink Russian granite
Yet another quarry
Horses on the road at Southwell
A nice carpet of daisies
The former lighthouse off Portland Bill Road
A shed on the clifftop
We walk through the curious Shed City
A view of a rocky beach
Sean points to a ladder, cut into the cliff
The Portland Bill Lighthouse
Sean heads up to some cottages
Sean leans on a fishing boat
One of several fishing-boat cranes on the cliff
Fishermen's sheds on the cliff
Possibly the crane-operator's cottages
The lighthouse from the other side
Pulpit Rock on Portland Bill
There's an ammonite outline in the rocks
Portland Bill Lighthouse
There's a very rusty K6 phonebox
Weymouth's marina
The Sailor's Return pub, site of the folk night
Looking up the river at Weymouth
Sean wanders through the crowds
Another pub - the Ship Inn
Fishing boats tied up along the shore
The river widens just before it reaches the sea
The beach, with a view to the Purbeck hills
Sean looks out from the promenade look-out
There's a sailing lesson going on
The Osmington White Horse in the distance
A quay-side bollard is painted like welly boots
The ferry rows across the river
A nice knitted minion pillar cover
The Weymouth bascule bridge is raised for yachts
Sean's on his phone outside our pub stop
Crowds outside the Royal Oak
Old dough mixers outside Sergeant Bun Bakery
Hannah struggles after eating a bit of chilli
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The view out of the bedroom window
The view out of the bedroom window
The graveyard of St. George's Church, Reforne
Sean wanders around in the graveyard
Fragments of gravestones in a bomb crater
The rugged cliffs of Portland
Sean on the clifftop
A pile of flat rocks
A carved owl in Tout Quarry Sculpture Park
A sculpture of the Roy Dog in Tout Quarry
Sean stands by a ringing bowl sculpture
A stone Viking ship
More carved rocks in Tout Quarry
A view of Fortuneswell from near the Heights Hotel
The stacked terraced houses of Fotuneswell
The Olympic Rings of Portland
Portland Cenotaph
Sean stomps up some stone steps
An unfinished and derelict hotel
RFA Argus, A135, in port
We head into the Verne Prison
Derelict houses in The Verne
Sean mills around by the Jailhouse Café
Sean leans on the stocks
More derelict buildings
A giant dry moat around the old Citadel
There's a weird picture of Cliff Richard on a gate
Sean heads off
The tunnels of the High Angle Battery
Sean in the tunnels
A restored 9' heavy gun
We explore the battery
Graffiti tunnels
Nicodemus Knob in East Cliff
We walk around the perimeter of the YOI
One of many curious ventilation towers
The Young Offenders institute looks like Dartmoor
A view of the Purbecks from East Cliff
Another active quarry
Piles of freshly-quarried Portland stone
A tower watches a pile of stone
Wandering around the strange quarry landscape
More piles of giant stone cubes
There's a random block of pink Russian granite
Yet another quarry
Horses on the road at Southwell
A nice carpet of daisies
The former lighthouse off Portland Bill Road
A shed on the clifftop
We walk through the curious Shed City
A view of a rocky beach
Sean points to a ladder, cut into the cliff
The Portland Bill Lighthouse
Sean heads up to some cottages
Sean leans on a fishing boat
One of several fishing-boat cranes on the cliff
Fishermen's sheds on the cliff
Possibly the crane-operator's cottages
The lighthouse from the other side
Pulpit Rock on Portland Bill
There's an ammonite outline in the rocks
Portland Bill Lighthouse
There's a very rusty K6 phonebox
Weymouth's marina
The Sailor's Return pub, site of the folk night
Looking up the river at Weymouth
Sean wanders through the crowds
Another pub - the Ship Inn
Fishing boats tied up along the shore
The river widens just before it reaches the sea
The beach, with a view to the Purbeck hills
Sean looks out from the promenade look-out
There's a sailing lesson going on
The Osmington White Horse in the distance
A quay-side bollard is painted like welly boots
The ferry rows across the river
A nice knitted minion pillar cover
The Weymouth bascule bridge is raised for yachts
Sean's on his phone outside our pub stop
Crowds outside the Royal Oak
Old dough mixers outside Sergeant Bun Bakery
Hannah struggles after eating a bit of chilli