6 Oct. - Portland

 Image: Portland Bill

An uplifting, sun-sparkling + emerald green roller-coaster ribbon of early morning motoring to Portland Bill. Starkly elegant island-top villages, grim deserted quarries + the disquieting Still Falling by Antony Gormley.

Weymouth old harbourside providing oily, salty, crunchy + luscious, battered + deep-fried fillets of cod plus chips for an army - sitting atop the harbour wall with cool breeze, warm sun, pubs galore, pastel houses + a shared Coke to wash down the late lunch.

Then Chesil Beach, an effort to cross + impossible to fully grasp - 18 miles; 100 million tonnes of size-graded + wave-pounded, smooth pebbles, stretching into the hazy west ...

And West Bay itself, crowned with golden but treacherously soft, sheer cliffs of sandy clay - glowing with deceptive warmth in the last rays of afternoon sun.

A day to gorge upon indeed!

Notes: We struggled a little with navigating one of the self-guided walks around Portland quarries, but enjoyed the sculpture trail. Chesil Beach definitely needs to be walked upon to appreciate and we were pleased to finish our day sipping fine ales on West Bay beach watching the sunset colour the Broadchurch cliffscape.