Wareham Forest Tourist Park - Days 7 - 14 of our Autumn/Winter Tour

Wareham Forest Tourist Park - Days 7 - 14 of our Autumn/Winter Tour 

Sunday 19th September 2021 ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅

Today we travelled the 180 odd miles from Kingsbury Water Park  to Wareham Forest Tourist Park and to get there we followed mostly motorway (M42, M40, A34 and M27) and then A roads almost right up to the front door of the campsite.  However, early on in our trip we had a bit of a scare with our car😬!  All of a sudden the engine started to massively over rev and John worriedly said ' Oh ----k there's something  VERY wrong with the car' 

Initially he thought the clutch had gone and this conjured visions of us having to be rescued by the AA along with multiple ££££££ signs to get it fixed😭😭😭, and because we were quite worried (and because we could keep going) we decided to coast along to the next service area and then investigate.  But I think our 🧚 Fairy Godmother🧚must have been watching out for us because over the next few miles the over revving settled down and by the time we got to Cherwell Services it was as if nothing had happened.  Therefore we ate our lunch and then very gingerly set off again but the issue never reoccurred so we've got everything crossed that we just had a  gremlin hitching a lift for a short while!

We arrived at our destination around 3.30, and as usual, our first priority was a cuppa and then we set too to get everything set up for our 28 day stay here.  This huge 5✴site is set within woodland and has lots of tracks and trails leading off right from the doorstep,  and added to that it's quite central for lots of other things to do. Therefore, we're quite happy with our choice, and especially so because the cost was heavily discounted due to our long stay 😃.

Monday 20th September 2021  🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

Well, today was just like a mid-summers day with wall to wall very warm sunshine, and after our long drive yesterday we were quite reluctant to get back in the car for an outing!

Therefore, we chose to walk around the 7 mile loop of the Sika Cycle and Walking Trail that we could access directly from the campsite.  However, although it made a pleasant outing the scenery was unchanging with huge swarths of pine trees and heath land for most of the way and very little wildlife to entertain us despite the fact that the forest around here is supposed to be home to the Asian Sika deer which were introduced to the area as far back as 1850.  But maybe we were expecting too much because the info boards informed us that this breed of deer are very shy and tend only to venture out onto the heath land at night!  

We did however spot a snake slithering across our path, and if we turned our eyes skywards there were quite a few buzzards riding on the thermals to gain altitude. 

A Slow Worm that's really not a snake but a Legless Lizard
(When I told John about it he replied 'why, has it been out on the p__s all night!!)

The Sika Trail

Tuesday 21st September 2021 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

On this 2nd very hot day of our stay we decided to release our bikes and ride into the town of Wareham, and then on to RSPB Arne which made a round trip of about 18 miles.  

Wareham is located between the Rivers Frome and Piddle 🚽 and is apparently built on a site that was occupied as far back as the Iron Age.  Later in it's history it became  an important cross channel port and the River Frome and what is now The Quay would have been the place where ships would arrive from the continent to unload their cargoes of mostly salt and potters clay!  However, today the river bank and Quay just provided a very popular place to sit in the sunshine while sipping coffee and watching the hordes of swans and ducks, along with a few boats just messing about on the river! 

From there we headed onwards to RSPB Arne which is nestled near the base of the Purbeck Hills from  where the peninsula on which it is situated juts out into Poole Harbour.  Initially our ride took us along quite roads as it meandered towards the ancient town of Arne, but once there we followed a gravelled track down to the waters edge where we picnicked on the  sands while watched the ebbing tide wash over the seaweed strewn beach!

A Curlew searching for Lunch

Apparently Arne is one of only a very few places in the UK where all six of our native reptiles can be found but we didn't see any of them today.  That was maybe because we'd got our bikes with us so it would have been difficult to go 'off piste' and explore the lovely landscape which consisted of open heathland and ancient oak woodland.  However, we plan to go back on foot probably on Friday so🤞we might see some then. 

Wednesday 22nd September 2021  🌞🌞🌞🌞⛅⛅⛅⛅

Today was a lovely day but with a bit of a disappointment at the end!  The sun had got his hat on right from the get go but most of today's leisure activities were planned for the late afternoon and evening. The morning had to be given over to chores and shopping but a quick trip to Lidl soon saw our cupboards brimming, and then it was a lazy lunch before setting of for Poole to do something we rarely do and that was to visit the theatre (however, in the end we wished we'd stuck with our usual habit of not bothering)

Pool Park Lake

We arrived at the very lovely Poole Park at around 3.30 and  ambled around it's massive lake then onto the harbour side where we partook of coffee and cake to while a bit of time away.  We then toddled up through Poole town to the Quay side in search of something to eat and good old Weatherspoons met our need very well. 

Me having a quick chat with someone I met on Poole Quay Side!

Then once fed and watered we left the Quay  and completed a full circuit by following the water's edge back towards Poole Park but this time heading for the Lighthouse Theatre where we'd booked seats to see an Eric and Ernie Tribute.  Now, from many years ago we both remembered this duo as being 'funny', and The Telegraph, Times and Independent also seemed to give the act their blessing so we had high hopes for what we were about to see!  However, maybe the warning was in the number of empty seats in the auditorium, and the only good thing I can say about them was that Ian and Jonty did actually look like who they were impersonating!

Other than that the show was absolutely terrible with bad jokes and sketches, and when it came to half time, John and I looked at each other and almost said in unison 'Shall we go home'!  And once there we enjoyed a very pleasant evening 💞in each others company💞 enhanced with a little tipple of G&T🥃🥃

Thursday 23rd September 2021⛅⛅⛅☁☁☁⛅⛅

Now, as you might have guessed from the above, although unimpressed by the show we'd half seen, we were very impressed by Poole Harbour - apparently it lays claim to being the second largest natural harbour in the world, but Wiki says there are others that also compete for that honour!   We also learnt that the harbour was the result of a valley being 'drowned' at the end of the last ice age, and that today it is the estuary for several rivers, the largest being the Frome, and that it covers an area of approximately 14 square miles.

So for today's outing we decided to take our bikes back to the harbour side  and then cycle mostly along the sea front all the way through Bournemouth to the outskirts of Boscombe.  In all the return journey came to a little over 20 miles, and although we had to do a bit of people dodging in some areas of the promenade it was a lovely ride and good to be away from traffic (except for one short section).  

Bournemouth Pier

Along the way we stopped to picnic a couple of times and from our sea front vantage points we had lovely views of both Bournemouth and Boscombe piers, and also much more distantly Old Harry's Rocks.  (which we'll include in our itinerary for another day)!

Old Harry's Rocks taken from a distance of about 3 miles away!

Friday 24th September 2021  🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

Today, as planned we revisited The 565 hectares of RSPB Arne and while there we visited many of it's bird hides and also traversed along several miles of trails that overlooked the calm tidal waters of Poole Harbour.

Our view from inside the main hide which also provided some much needed shade 
while we ate our lunch. 

However, while we were there the tide was high so there was a distinct lack of activity with many of the wading birds being absent, but there was an Osprey out fishing - unfortunately we blinked and missed it😒.

Poole Harbour from high up on the paths of Arne

From our vantage point we also had very distant views of Corfe Castle 

Our walk eventually took us into the tiny ancient village of Arne which today only consists of a few houses along with the old St Nicholas's Church which sits on top of a large bank and which dates back to about 1200.  

Saturday 25th September 2021 ☁☁⛅☁☁☁⛅☁

So what did we do today?  We visited the island of Portland which is connected to Weymouth via a causeway that runs parallel to the stunning Chesil Beach, and our purpose for choosing there was to visit the Tout Quarry Sculpture Park and also to explore Church Ope Cove where the Pirates' graveyard can be found.  However, we only succeeded with the former because the latter was bared by a ridiculously narrow entry to it's car park😡.  John reckons our car is 1.8 metres wide and the entrance (which was guarded by huge Portland Stone blocks) stated it was 1.83 metres so with only 3 cms to spare we didn't want to risk going in - but we did find an alternative activity which I'll tell you about later. 

After arriving on Portland we drove past lots of old stone cottages, past lots of quarrying memorabilia and up several very steep hills before we finally arrived at the Bill where Portland lighthouse stands  to guide shipping through the treacherous waters that surround the island.  It stands 135 feet tall and was completed in 1906 when it superseded 2 previous ones that were known as the Old Higher and Lower Lighthouses. 

The 'New'Portland Bill Lighthouse

From The Bill we proceeded to walk back along the very rugged coastal path on the west side of the island and from there we had distant views of Chesil Beach but rather than looking at that it was really quite important to watch where we were putting our feet because the rough path had plenty of trip traps! 

A comfy chair for me!

Our walk to Tout Quarry took us about an hour and a half with our lunch stop so as we'd only paid for 3 hours parking (and we'd got to allow for our return journey) we didn't have quite as much time as we'd have liked to explore the vast number of sculptures (over 60) that can be found there, but maybe that's just a good excuse to go back at a later date!

On our way back we found ourselves being watched

And I just managed to snap this chap before he flew off to do some hunting!

We made it back to the car with just a few minutes to spare but I don't think that really mattered because it didn't look like anybody was checking!   However, that still left us with plenty of time for more exploring,  and as Ope Cove was unavailable on this visit we decided to check out Chesil beach and Fleet Lagoon instead! 

The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and part of the West Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site.  The beach itself is made up of billions of pebbles washed up over 10,000 years ago, and in total, the huge natural structure is 18 miles long.  It stretches from Portland Down to West Bay and these days it protects the land from huge waves rolling in from the Atlantic.  On the land side of Chesil Beach sits The Fleet which is the largest saline lagoon in England and it only connects with the sea at Ferry Bridge which is the point where the Fleet Lagoon joins Portland Harbour. 

There were no sharp edges, all the stones were oval shaped

And quite difficult to walk on - so instead we sat and watched the waves crashing up
onto the extremely steep beach

Sunday 26th September 2021 ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅

Well, after a busy week Sunday was declared a day of rest - but only till after a late Brunch!  After that we set off for a short walk out on the Sika trail again.  However, our short walk turned into about 6 miles but as it was all in very pleasant sunshine it was very much a pleasure to lengthen our exploration.  And the photo below really doesn't do it justice but the Autumn colours were just lovely!   

Then, once back home we enjoyed a nice cuppa while we did a bit more planning for this Autumn/Winter tour and now we've reassuringly got our campsites booked right through until mid December😁!  

Now all that's left to do on our lazy Sunday is cook dinner in our lovely little Bistro, and tonight's speciality will be Duck a l'orange accompanied by a drop of Malbec 💞

See you soon 😘

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