Seatown to Portland

Today was a long day, the aim was to combine two shortish guide book days into one longer day.

We left our camp spot at 6.30 just as it was getting light. There were a few hills to climb before West Bay and some interesting smaller cliff afterwards.

At some point there was the option of walking along a shingle beach to avoid climbing another hill. We took it but only saw all the warning signs for unstable cliffs after we reached the other side.

Its turns out that further on there was compulsory walking on shingle which gets very tiring and we were happy to head inland to Abbotsleigh for some lunch at the half way point (12 miles).

We routed back past the Swannery (which was unfortunately closed) but the path then spends a long time winding through fields to avoid the West Fleet (brackish lagoon) where many rare birds nest.

The rest of the day was spent traversing the edge of the Fleet which seemed to never end.

We got to Ferry Bridge after dark. This is where the second book day ends but due to some rushed planning we hadn't realised this and were booked in at the YHA on Portland.

We noticed a bus stop which would take us into the Island, with a bus due in 10 minutes. Olly said this would be cheating so we set off on the 2 mile trudge along the main road.

As the bus drove past us Olly mentioned we had made the wrong decision and he didn't even know why he said it was cheating as he actually didn't think that.  The only good thing is we have done that bit now so we don't have to do it again.

We got to the YHA at 18.30 so that means we walked for 12 hours today and we both feel it! 

I thought I had found a new caterpillar today but unfortunately on closer inspection it turned out to be an unwell fox moth caterpillar stuck on its back.