Dorset: Day 3 – 25.07.20……..Get ready for the heatwave!

After yesterday’s variable and very muggy day we knew that today was going to be nothing like yesterday, with rain forecast all day. How can two consecutive days be so different we asked ourselves? Fortunately, our pre-planning paid off as we’d factored todays miserable weather into what we were going to do today which was quite literally, to stay at home. Well, we are on a stay-cation after all!

We decided to spend a leisurely morning doing not much, and agreed to meet up with our friend Jane at 11am for coffee and a spot of brunch at The Horse. We have a rule now that we’re going to support our independent shops and cafes as much as we can and as John, the proprietor is a friend of ours we want to support his business. We had a lovely brunch although, as usual, we were subjected to his really corny jokes!

After brunch we donned our facemasks and popped into Clotho, an independent boutique where Maice and I parted with our money having succumbed to the temptations of ‘the sale rail’! Ah well, neither of us have spent much these past few months and it is Maices birthday on Tuesday! And they were on the ‘all items £10’ rail, expect for my gold loafers that is, which cost a little bit more, but still in the sale! The heavens opened as we started walking back home alongside the Borough Gardens and oh what a shame. Dorset Food and Drink were holding their summer fayre in the gardens.........in the torrential rain. It couldn’t have been any worse for them really. We went and said a quick hello, commiserating with them about the weather and then hot-footed it back to the carpark where we said goodbye to Jane, then Maice and I went back to my place to continue with the next part of todays plan. Homeschooling. Yes, we were going to teach ourselves some computer skills, learn how to use our iPads properly, and learn how to get the best out of our cameras.

We were so thankful to be indoors for by now the rain was absolutely torrential to the extent it was bouncing off the ground and our thoughts turned to those poor stall holders sitting underneath their gazebos manning their stalls in this dreadful weather. They couldn’t have picked a worse summers day! So, a really big shout out and a very big 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 must go to them for a) turning up and b) their commitment to braving the elements. We hope they did some business to make it worth their while!

We opened our iPads and set about the task at hand. Uploading yesterdays blog. For some reason Maice’s iPad was on a go slow……must be the weather, for it was taking forever to upload the photos onto the blog page. Whilst that was happening we turned our attention to our next staycation in September where we’ll be meeting up with our Scottish friends, in Scotland of all places. Hey, we do get about! Of course this is when we’re supposed to be in Canada but I suppose you could say there are similarites between the two countries, other than size that is. Well lets compare……….. they both have mountains, and they both have lakes or lochs, and they both have amazing wildlife, and the weather is probably similar, and they both have lots of islands. We’re meeting in Iona for a couple of nights, and as Maice and I will be driving almost 1,000 miles to get there we thought we’d make a week of it and stop off someplace on the way there and someplace on the way back. It’s all very exciting not knowing at this stage where we’re going so armed with our road atlases, yes, they do still exist, we perused the British Isles, working out distances and timings and after some deliberation we settled upon Ullswater in the Lake District. Sourcing the accommodation, checking out ratings and trip advisor reviews we’ve now booked ourselves into a lovely B&B farmhouse for two nights and really looking forward to meeting the owner, Alan, whom we spoke to on the phone. So with that sorted we needed to look at our return journey from Scotland so perused the map some more and, taking into consideration Jane and Steves recommendations to stay near Tebay (well known for it’s motorway services apparently, as well as its beautiful location), we’ve booked us a lovely B&B six miles from there. So, that’s our September staycation sorted. Now, let‘s get back to this staycation!

Having had a very productive afternoon on our iPads, although we still hadn’t started our ‘homeschooling’, our thoughts soon turned to food. Not uncommon for me, my fridge and food cupboard was bare which meant either a) a trip to the supermarket to buy some provisons b) a trip to the pub for some pub grub or c) a trip to the Greek take-away for a take-away. It was a no-brainier really…….a trip to the take-away it was then. Although a small menu we opted for the vegetarian wraps, traditionally knows as the gyros, cheese balls and a portion of chips. You can’t eat Greek without a plate of chips now can you. I have to say it was a delicious meal. The cheese balls were particularly tasty but why is it that you always get an odd number? There’s two of us and five of them, so Maice had three and I had two. Of course I would have liked three and Maice could have had two, or we could have cut the fifth one in half and had half each and had two and a half cheese balls each. But we didn’t......so I just had more chips! As take-aways go, it must be the smallest shop in Dorchester which may account for its small menu but wouldn’t it be lovely if at some point in the future they opened up a Greek taverna.....in Dorchester. Wow! For now though, if you’re looking for a tasty take-away and want to be reminded of Greece, then look no further ......Souvlaki and more is the place. Enjoy!

After our lovely meal our thoughts soon turned to tomorrow, Day 4 of our staycation. According to our plan we were going to walk around Portland tomorrow and on Monday we were going to do a circular walk around Kimmeridge however, the weather app was telling us that Monday was going to be wet, wet, wet. So we’ve decided to do the Kimmeridge walk tomorrow and regroup tomorrow evening to discuss Day 5. On reading the directions it referred us to OS Map 15 for more detail and can you believe this, I just happened to have It. Of course it’s not mine, it belongs to Jane and Steve who in their infinite wisdoms felt that Maice and I could benefit from these maps in order to a) point us in the right direction b) help us if we got lost c) try to keep us on the correct paths and d) understand the lay of the land. With the map laid out on the floor, we poured over it, checking that we understood the route from the directions. Well, it all looks pretty straight forward. Mind you, I did a similar walk with Barry last year and we went totally off piste, and we had a map! I’m sure Maice and I will be fine......it is a circular walk after all!

We were feeling pretty exhausted by this time, must have been at least 7pm so we decided to call it a day. We’ve achieved quite a lot today, albeit not what we actually set out to achieve. Our homeschooling didn’t materialise so we’ll just have to muddle through with our IT skills and our camera skillls will have to be learnt ‘on the job’, out in the field, so to speak. Maice did take her new camera out with her when we went to fetch our take-away so that’s a bit of progress. We’ve decided that if its another wet day on Monday, like what they’ve forecast, we’ll attempt another homeschooling day.

On that note, Day 4 is coming to an end. We’d like to say that there’s a heatwave on the way, well according to the signage in The Range there is, but we’ll just have to cross our fingers on that one and hope for the best. And with that Maice headed off home and I was left to tidy up. Honestly, how does my lounge get so untidy.....it was perfect before Maice turned up!

See you all tomorrow on our circular walk around Kimmeridge…….

M&A xx