Abbotsbury to Weymouth 25kms
Ascension 291m  Accumulative ascension 4311

At breakfast this morning I asked our host Kevin what was the significance of the name of our accommodation: Coward’s Lake Farm House. His explanation was that it was indeed a farm house and the “lake” in old English could also mean a stream and there was a stream next to the house. There were two explanations of the word Coward. One was that centuries ago a sea captain named Coward lived in the area. This was not very convincing as there were no parish records of a Coward. The second explanation is that even longer ago villagers had gardens along the stream and grazed cows there. Coward is just a bastardisation of cow herd and so Coward Lake could be Cow Herd Stream. Personally I think he should come up with a new legend of cowards, lakes, damsels and heroes.

After buying cheese, buns and apples for lunch from the village shop we headed off up the hill to visit St Catherine’s Chapel. The Chapel was built in the late fourteenth century by Abbotsbury Abbey, and was dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria, one of the most popular saints in late medieval England. The hill top location recalls the monastery of St Catherine on Mt Sinai and suggests that the chapel was a place of pilgrimage. Overlooking the sea, the chapel was used as a beacon by shipping. This ensured its survival after Abbotsbury Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. St Catherine is the patron saint of spinsters and women are said to visit the chapel in desperate search of husbands.

The first part of today was along a ridge through fields that made us feel a long way from the sea. It was easy walking on grass and earth paths with great views of the surrounding countryside. We really felt we were in “England’s green and pleasant land” (Jerusalem by William Blake). Eventually we came down to the western end of the Fleet Lagoon and walked around the inland  edge of this until we reached the outskirts of Weymouth. On our left was farmland and on our right the tranquil waters of The Fleet. Beyond The Fleet was the high shingle bank of Chisel Beach which blocked any view of the sea.

No golf courses today but we did walk through two huge holiday parks, a military firing range (there were no red flags so we didn’t have do the diversion) a military training ground surrounded by a high fence topped with razor wire and a horse racing course.

Two minor things of interest today. Usually when going through fences or walls on the Coast Path they have kissing gates and we will go through at least 20 of these per day. But today no kissing gates, they were all stiles. Some beautifully built in stone walls but most old rickety timber ones. For us it is a lot more effort to climb over a stile than to go through a kissing gate. In Ireland it was always a stile. They haven’t invented kissing gates there yet.

The other interesting thing was pheasants. A lot of the path in the farmland was freshly mown and there were dozens of pheasants pecking about in the grass. As we walked along they scurried along in front of us. They seemed about as clueless as sheep.

It started out refreshingly cool at the chapel this morning but by lunch time it was uncomfortably hot and there was little woodland to get protection from the sun. It was a long day and we had made good progress to Ferrybridge where the Isle of Portland is connected to the mainland. The Isle of Portland is what is known as a tied island, connected to the mainland with a sandbar or tambolo. In this case the sandbar is now a four lane road. At Ferrybridge the Coast path was closed and there was a diversion inland through suburbia. The signage was terrible and we got some bad advice from a local who I guess was only trying to help. We found the path again coming into Weymouth but this is one of those towns which instead of a nice 10 minute direct walk into town you get the 45 minute scenic route through leafy suburbs, a cliff walk, some botanic garden, a headland fort, a rose garden etc. We were over it and didn’t get to our guest house until 4.30pm.

But the guest house is stunning. We are on the second floor looking out over the huge expanse of Weymouth Beach. After a shower, a drink and something to eat we feel much better. We are here for three nights. Tomorrow we walk around the Isle of Portland which will take all day and the following day is a “rest day” – ha ha!

PS I will put captions on the photos tomorrow when I am not so tired.