3r Weekend

This weekend we decided to go south for a change. We wanted to see the coastline. There is a small town called Lulworth. The area on the coast around that town and beaches to the west are called the Jurassic Coast. It is said that this section of the coast has joined the ranks of the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon as one of the wonders of the natural world because of the geology. It represents 185 million years of earth history in just 95 miles. Fossils are found in this area and they have also found well preserved dinosaurs and footprints.




We had a lot of traffic going to the south. When traffic gets backed up here, they say caution queues possible. The first town we went to was called Poole. We thought it would be interesting to check out this town because John’s mom’s maiden name is Poole. We went to the town square and walked around and then drove around town some. Here are some pictures around the square. Street vendors range from cheese, seafood meat to candy.

These bubbles in water seem to be popular here. We have seen it a couple of times and the kids look like they were having a ball.

Shopping carts are called Trolleys and the ones at this shopping center cost 1 pound to use. They were locked together and when you put a pound in this, it unlocks the trolley for you to use.

We don’t have Burger Kings in these kinds of buildings…

After Poole we wanted to go to Lulworth Castle. After we arrived at the gate, we found out the castle is closed on Saturday’s. So we were only able to see the gate and then on to Lulworth Cove. Lulworth Cove is a very round cove with white high cliffs on the sea side of England. The small town at the cove has several thatched cottages. I have wanted to see thatched houses; it is amazing that they still have these types of houses. Thatched cottages have roofs made of straw and vegetation. Below is a picture of one.

When we walked down to the cove, it was so foggy you couldn’t see much of anything. We could only see a little of the cove, not the whole thing. There were lots of people at the rocky beach and even people swimming. The water was too cold for us. We stopped at a couple of shops on the way back to the car. Next stop Durdle Door.

We had to drive through a camping ground to get to the parking lot for the next area. We had to walk down a very steep path to get to the cliffs to view Durdle Door. When we got there, once again the fog was so thick we couldn’t see any of it. We barley saw the beach at the bottom of the cliffs. Durdle Door is an immense, 150 million-year-old stone arch that plunges into the sea. It was created by massive earth movements and then erosion. After leaving here, we decided to stop and buy a postcard of the things we drove out there to see but couldn’t because of the fog. We never made it to look for fossils that are popular in that area. We decided to cut our losses. I must say it was a nice drive out there.

The last place we stopped for the day was a town called Bournemouth. It was a fairly modern city compared to what we had been seeing so far. We parked at the pier by the beach. They are popular for their 7 miles of sandy beaches. Here are some pictures, but it was still foggy. We walked along the beach and then turned onto a walkway that went into Bournemouth’s Pleasure Gardens. It was such a pretty walk. There was a lot of green grass, a creek that ran though it, and lots of beautiful flowers. We to a central part of the garden and they had a huge balloon that you could pay to take up and see the surrounding area. It was too foggy to pay for that on Saturday, but on a clear day I bet the view was spectacular. There was also a large grassy area with some chairs with a big screen TV and people were sitting around watching Wimbledon. It seemed like a great place to go walking and hanging out on a Sunday afternoon. We walked back to the pier area and ate dinner at a place called Harry Ramsden’s. The sign said they had world famous Fish & Chips. We had not tried Fish & Chips yet, so I thought this might be the place to start. Paul had a good time playing with the crayons. John ordered Cod, chips (fries) and mushy peas (that is what they eat with fish & chips). I ordered a fish called Plaice and chips. Both plates were great and we were full when we left. We even had vinegar on our chips. The fog had cleared a little when we left, but it had turned pretty cold. We were happy to get back to the car. We drove home and put Paul to bed. Even though we had fog, it was a great day.

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the narrow street you have to drive. I am getting where I don’t have to close my eyes anymore….

Sunday we decided to stay closer to home. We went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and got a bucket of chicken and took it to Portchester Castle to have a picnic lunch and then tour the tower (keep) of the castle. Paul enjoyed playing with the grass. He loves running his fingers through it. We watched the kids catch little crabs in what is left of one moat on the castle grounds. They get so excited when they catch one. I loved going into the tower of the castle. It had some interesting history to it and it was used as many things including a hospital, prison, and to house troops. There were as many as 7000 prisoners kept there at one time. We got to see the different levels and areas of the castle. John carried Paul in the front carrier. We wanted to go to the roof of the castle. You had to climb a small steep winding staircase to get there. It was pretty scary, but the view was great.

After our trip to the castle, John took me to a craft superstore (Hobby Craft) that I found in the phonebook. I was so excited to go look at scrapbook stuff and beads. It was a huge store (even had a 2nd floor). They had all kinds of craft things including fabric and sewing stuff. I was excited to get some British scrapbook stuff for this trip. I was so disappointed! No British scrapbook stuff…it was all American things. They had stuff like Cricuit, Sizzix die cuts and even some of the Martha Stewart tools. They hardly had any quilting fabric and what they had was expensive and not very pretty. Even the sewing patterns were Butterick, Simplicity etc. I only bought some heart beads. I figured I could get the rest of the stuff at home and cheaper. I have a few more stores to check out. I hope I have better luck.

After the craft store we drive to downtown Gosport. This is the town that John works in. We drove to the harbor and were surprised to see how close Portsmouth was. It is directly across the harbor and you can actually take a ferry from Gosport to Portsmouth. They have cute shops and a submarine museum and lots of marinas. Sunday evening everything is closed so we will go back again when things are open. Paul was sleeping in the car so driving around exploring was good to do then and the traffic wasn’t as bad. We went home after that made dinner and watched some TV. Now to start another week in the UK.