Sunday was forecast to be a nice sunny day. After a nice breakfast (toast, tea, yogurt & fresh strawberries, we decided to spend the day in Swanage town. We left Rowena Cottage at about 8:30 with our first stop being in Durlston Country Park, just up the narrow winding private road from the lighthouse to proper city streets.
Durlston Country Park is run by the Dorset County Council. It has a castle, now restored, that was built by the eminent Victorian, George Burt, and it contains a legacy of fascinating artifacts. It wasn’t open that early, but our main goal was to see the “Great Globe” constructed of 40 tons of Portland limestone. It is located outside the castle on the seaside walk. The globe was constructed in Greenwich (near London) and transported to Swanage by sea. Its surface is carved in detail and lettered to show the continents, oceans and certain more specific areas of the world.
Then we drove into Swanage town and, it being early, procured a prime parking spot for Pierre the Peugeot right along the beach. We did a walkabout through the beachfront area filled with amusement arcades, fish and chip shops, souvenir stands, ice cream vendors, and deep-sea diving vendors. It cost £1 each to enter the Swanage Pier for “strolling”. It cost more if you wanted to fish or dive. It seems Swanage is a major center for divers. There are lots of shipwrecks in the area, and they are all popular dives. We saw hundreds of divers readying their equipment and dressing up in their wet suits.
At 11:00 we decided to embark on a 45 minute boat trip with Marsh’s Boats. We bought our tickets from Roger who would also be the captain of the small boat leaving at 11:30. Roger is a character. He had lots of jokes and a reasonable but not overwhelming knowledge of the area. There would be no complaint of “too much information”. He was a lot of fun. We went round the point, and at the most distant point of the trip we found ourselves directly below Anvil Point Lighthouse and Rowena Cottage. People were impressed that we were staying there.
Back to shore around 1:00 PM, it was time for lunch. First we booked a restaurant for Monday night at a recommended spot. Then we decided on fish and chips (what else?) at the Fish Plaice, Excellent cod and chips! Then we did a walkabout through downtown Swanage. Just before returning to the car, we stopped at Budgen’s to buy the makings for tonight’s dinner at home. Then home for naps.
I had a camera issue to resolve. My battery seemed to die much more quickly than usual. And the supposedly fully charged spare was dead as well. So today’s pictures were taken with my Moto G4 cell phone. It has an OK camera, but I prefer to use my Canon G16 camera. Anyway, it appears that charging the camera batteries with a third-party USB dual charger is resulting in only a trickle charge even when the green light indicates a full charge. I charged up the batteries with the Canon plug-in charger and I think that has solved the problem.
We had cocktails out on the patio – sunny but chilly. Dinner was home cooked Chicken Rogan Josh with a nice salad. The wine was a Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley that we had purchased at Costco the day we arrived.
Pictures (click to enlarge)
Elaine we need that recipe for chicken it looked fabulous!!!
Love that you saw your casa ( New Mexican for cottage!) from the boat!!
How beautiful – reading your notes is like being there. Joey you should have been a travel writer!
Best
Ann
Ditto what Ann said, we certainly feel right there with you. You two really do find the best spots. Carry on…..CiCi