SOUTH WALK:- My first Sunny day - and I'm off to Portland Bill

Saturday 13th September and I'm back in Weymouth - this time in the sun and it looks a whole lot better, although I'm not rushing to book 2 weeks at the Hotel Riviera quite yet! I headed back to the Esplanade and the Jubilee Clock where I last left the path.

Weymouth used to be a small fishing village in years gone by, but grew into one of the countries favourite seaside resorts as well as an important harbour. King George III used to spend his summers in the resort, and there is a very smart statue commemorating his patronage. I headed out from the Esplanade towards the old harbour, where I was too early to take advantage of a small ferry which takes you across to Nothe Fort at the mouth of the harbour. I walked the long way round and then headed out around the headland towards Wyke Regis. I was heading for the start of the long straight road onto the Isle of Portland. This has only been officially designated as part of the SW path since 2003 - and was a total of 13 miles from the start of the main road in at the Ferrybridge Inn from where I would pick up the path next time to Abbotsbury. The road onto the island follows behind the impressive bank of pebbles of Chesil Beach which extends for many miles down to Abbotsbury and beyond

After slogging along the 2 mile causeway path - the first point of interest on the Island is the new Osprey Quay Centre and Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy which will be the venue for the Sailing events of the 2012 London Olympics. An alternative path took you through this centre which seemed to be a hive of activity. From the harbour, I headed up towards Verne Prison where there were splendid views back towards Weymouth. It was good to be able to see a massive stretch of the Dorset Coast that I had already walked - all the way back to St Aldhelms Head.

Portland was a mix of scruffy MOD buildings, various establishments for offenders and some interesting coastline with an impressive escarpment which was obviously popular for rock climbers and abseilling teams. With it being a lovely sunny day, there were plenty of walkers, many doing the whole trip round the Island and others on various round walks from Portland Bill itself which was very crowded and spoilt by having a plethora of large Beach huts ( or small chalets) scattered around in a random fashion. It looked similar to the Shed/Summer Chalet area of a large Garden Centre.

The main feature was the impressive Lighthouse, in front of which was the sign (pictured left) showing Poole 49 miles!

The path from here along the western side of the Island was very wild and scenic along the top of the escarpment with far reaching views along Chesil beach and back towards Portland harbour. After 3 miles the path dropped down onto the promenade and I was heading back towards the Causeway. The 2 mile stretch back to Ferrybridge seemed to take for ever, but I had spotted that there was a bus stop within 50 metres of the path intersection, which would get me back to my car in Weymouth. My mood wasn't enhanced by 3 buses passing me in quick succession when I was still half a mile away from the Bus Stop! Fortunately I didn't have to wait too long.

I had decided to stay the night in Weymouth, but finding a vacancy wasn't that easy. I eventually plumped for a grotty looking pub and had the sort of bizarre incident that only really happens to me! After asking the barmaid if I could look at the room before deciding - she gave me the key to Room 9 and pointed me in the right direction. I had a bit of trouble getting the key to unlock the door - but it turned out to be a lovely large modern double room clean and bright - in complete contrast to the rest of the pub. En Suite but no bath unfortunately - but it seemed ideal for £35. Even so - I decided to try a couple of other places ( desperate for a bath!) No luck - so returned to the pub - paid for the room and she gave me the key back. I spent 5 minutes trying to get the door open again but eventually admitted defeat and trudged back down 2 floors to the young barmaid. I glanced at the key fob and could see that the key was for room 6! so I told the girl that she had given me the wrong key, an easy mistake, 6 for 9 . No she said - Room 9 is a double room - you are in Room 6 which is the single! She proceeded to take me back up the stairs to Room 6 - a grotty little poky hole with no en suite. I was too tired to argue - and came to the conclusion that I had probably been a complete plonker going to Room 9 in the first place which had obviously been unlocked, although mysteriously, my key had locked the door afterwards. I would swear she told me it was Room 9! Anyway, I crashed out on the bed and enjoyed "Strictly" and X Factor for a couple of hours - good recuperation fodder.

The pub had a live band on that night so there was no point in going to bed early - 3 ageing rockers doing covers - they weren't that bad - so me and the other 10 people in the pub quite enjoyed it! I would swear that the other 10 would have been propping up the bar anyway.!