Isle of Portland 23km
Ascension 339m  Accumulative ascension 4650

Today was a walk around the Isle of Portland. As I said yesterday an almost island, jutting out into the English Channel, tethered to the mainland only at the end of Chesil Beach. Six kilometres long and two and a half kilometres wide and basically a big block of limestone. The island is most famous for Portland Stone, a durable good-looking stone used in the building of St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. In New Zealand the Auckland War Memorial Museum is made from imported Portland Stone. The stone was also used for thousands of gravestones during the two world wars. The stone is sufficiently cemented to be resistant to weathering but not so compact that it can’t be carved and cut by stonemasons.

At breakfast this morning we were chatting with an English couple who knew the area well and they explained to us where and what bus to catch, the route number, the cost, the frequency. Everything we needed to know. As yesterday we had walked in from the island causeway into Weymouth, we decided not to repeat it each way again today, so took the bus instead. On the bus we met a Canadian lady from Nova Scotia who was doing the same as us, a circuit of the island. She had walked the Camino Portuguese and the Dingle and Kerry Peninsulas in Ireland, like us, and so we had a lot of stories to share. She was doing just parts of the Coast Path not the full 630 miles.

As well as many old quarries and some still operating ones, the island has three castles, three lighthouse, two villages, eight settlements, half of Britain’s butterfly species, a HM Prison, a HM youth detention facility, an industrial estate, a nature sanctuary, a Ministry of Defence compound, a sculpture garden, a thirteenth century church, and kilometres of lonely cliff tops. Way too much to see in one day. One thing the Isle of Portland did not have was a beach suitable for swimming.

Immediately you arrive on the island you have a steep climb. The island is 167m high at the mainland end and tapers down to sea level at the English Channel end – this end is called Portland Bill. At the top of this first climb, in a disused quarry, is the sculpture garden. The Coast Path goes under a stone arch and meanders thru the huge limestone slabs in the quarry and every now and then one of them has been sculptured into something. There was also an area where about half a dozen artists were working away with hammers and chisels on their creations.

Outside of the sculpture park there are two other notable sculptures. The spirit of Portland, a memorial to stone masons and a sculpture of the Olympic Rings. At the 2012 Olympics and Para-Olympics the sailing was held at Weymouth.

There are three lighthouses and the first you reach is Old (Higher) Lighthouse, the light from which first guided sailors in 1716. Further on is the striking, red and white painted Portland Bill Lighthouse. The focal point of most people’s visit to the island. This lighthouse was built in 1905 – 06 and is still operating. You can pay for a guided tour and climb 136 steps to the top. A little further on is Old (Lower) Lighthouse, also built in 1716, and is now used as a bird observatory.

At the Portland Bill Lighthouse is a Coast Path stone marker stating that it is 581 miles to Minehead and 49 miles to Poole.  We have walked all 581 miles and only have 49 miles to go.

At the lighthouse we also caught up with a couple from Stratford upon Avon whom we first met two days ago on Chesil Beach and then again yesterday walking to Weymouth. They stayed on the Isle of Portland last night and we had another good chat with them today comparing experiences. For us it was a very sociable day, first the helpful breakfast couple, then the friendly Canadian and finally the Stratford couple.

This morning we had taken the bus over the causeway right to the base of the first climb. This afternoon we decided that in order to say we had walked the entire Coast Path we had to walk back over the causeway. It was 4 in the afternoon, we were hot and tired and the walk is 2 miles of mind numbingly boring trudging alongside a busy noisy road. But we did it and can sleep with a clear conscience tonight. We had a bit of trouble with the path today and lost it many times. Not a lot of signage, diversions due to rock falls, quarry operations and security areas. And quite a bit of sloppiness by us. We always seemed to find it again with some good guess work and the help of locals.

Tomorrow a quiet day in Weymouth and hopefully a swim.