Ann was really worried about me last night. I was sick a couple of times (fortunately on the bathroom floor which could be easily cleaned) but when she took me out for my wee before bedtime I didn’t want one. All I wanted to do was eat grass. I had an upset stomach and I thought that eating grass might help. Ann put down newspaper all over the bedroom floor in case I was sick during the night but I wasn’t. She said if I wasn’t very well in the morning we wouldn’t do a big walk – we’d just have a drive around and do some little walks.
This morning when I went for my little walk before breakfast at about 8.15am I ate loads of grass. Ann thought I’d be desperate for a wee, because I hadn’t had one since about 4pm yesterday, but all I wanted to do was eat grass so I didn’t have a wee until I’d been out for about 10 mins. I had to go in the car while Ann had breakfast today and she said if I was sick while she was having breakfast we’d abandon our third day of walking. I love our walking holiday so I tried my hardest not to be sick.
However I still wasn’t feeling that great. We drove to the car park at Chesil Beach, at the start of the road to Portland, and got there at about 9.30am. It cost us £5.50 to park there for 12 hours. It was a massive car park and at least two dog walking people arrived, didn’t bother paying and just wandered off to exercise their dogs. I had to stay on my lead because we were near the main road but we were walking through a grassy area and I ate loads of grass. Ann said we didn’t have to do the whole walk – we could just have a little walk round the first area on Portland and then go back to the car. However, after about half an hour I was let off my lead as we had to climb up a big steep hill to the top of some cliffs. By then I was having such fun running about, that I forgot I wasn’t very well.
It was ever so cold at the start of our walk. Ann had to wear her fleece, anorak and gloves but after about half an hour she took her anorak and gloves off and didn’t need to put them back on again. It was a lovely day. We could see for miles down the Chesil Beach.
There were quite a few people about on this walk. I don’t think we went for more than 10 mins without seeing someone. And also because it is quite a built up area with quite a lot of buses Ann said that if I wanted to abandon the walk at any time we would look on the map and head for the nearest bus stop so she could take me back to the car. Portland seems to be well served with buses into Weymouth and they all had to pass where we’d left the car.
This walk was described as ‘moderate’ on the official SWCP website. The first trek to the top of the cliffs was hard, then once we'd done about half of the walk we then had to go down and back up to a place called Church Ope Cove and then the last bit of the walk from the prison down to the water was hard. Ann said that she had sore feet and also her knees were hurting occasionally.
We got to Portland Bill (the very end of Portland) by about 11.30am and had a coffee at the cafe there. I got to have a drink in my foldable doggie water bowl. The worst thing about this walk was that there were absolutely no streams for me to have a drink in. Ann gave me drinks at regular intervals and I also had several drinks out of muddy puddles but there were no streams. It wasn’t until we got back to the B&B and I drank loads that Ann wondered if Portland was a water free environment?! We certainly couldn’t see any water marked on the map.
Once we’d rounded Portland Bill and were on the homeward route we had to walk past a ‘Young Offenders Institution and also the Prison – all very eerie. I suppose they have these places on islands because if any of the inmates escape there’s only one route via the road off the island.
Apart from stopping for coffee we didn’t have any other breaks. We didn’t have anything for lunch today but Ann said that she doesn’t really like stopping because her feet get sore when she stops and starts. In fact neither of us has eaten very much during the last few days.
We got back to the car at about 2.15pm so our walk today took us just under 5 hours.
I’m absolutely shattered. I’m just lying on my duvet fast asleep. Ann is lying on the bed having a snooze. She says her legs feel stiff all over. I’ve had an absolutely lovely holiday walking the SWCP. But 38 miles in 3 days is very tiring for a 6 year old collie like me. I’m looking forward to going home tomorrow and hope that Ann is going to be at work a lot this week so I can have a few days of quiet sleep time.
However, I’m sure when I’ve re-charged my batteries I’ll be up and raring to go on our next walking holiday. We think we might go to the Torquay area next.
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