Rob Setter's South West Coast Path Ramblings: Blog 44 : Seatown to Hardy Memorial, Hardy Memorial to Osmington Mills.

Hello all,

It feels that I am closing in on the finish and as I sit in the tent typing, I have just 4 days of walking left. So, that is 48 miles of the South West Coast Path that are in front of me and the rest are behind me. As to whether I am feeling sad that it will all end on Sunday - no I'm not really.
Don't get me wrong, I have loved the walk and to have had the luxury of time to complete it all is something that I do not take for granted, but there are lots of things that I want to do as well as walking and some of them have taken a bit of a back seat.
Popping home from time to time, sometimes planned and sometime due to tiredness or injury, has meant that I have experienced what I am missing at home. Our garden is an absolute joy for Jennie and me and it is looking marvelous, but my vegetable plot needs some serious attention (despite Jennie taking on some of the upkeep) and I am really excited about getting stuck in to the digging of the potatoes which are just about ready.
We used to have three chickens - Kathy, Penny and Bridget - unfortunately two have died in the last 6 months leaving us with just Bridget. Poor Bridget is lonely, so Jennie had arranged for her to join a flock of free range hens that belong to Harriet who is a friend of Jennie's. So now we have no chickens and an area where they used to live which needs to be turned into something resembling a garden.
And, the house is half painted, so that needs to be finished.
And, there are areas of Dartmoor which I have not walked - so far.

Seatown to the Hardy memorial was a very varied walk. From Seatown there is a climb up to the top of the cliffs which soon descends to sea level. This is the way it is for the first third of the walk.

Looking down the first hill towards Seatown with the
constant presence of Golden Cap

Looking down the second hill to Eype.

One October about ten years ago, Jennie and I camped at Eype. (You can see the campsite just above the chalets in the above photo). It was absolutely freezing at night and the night started early at about 6.30. Getting into our sleeping bags with all the clothes we had was the only option and we both had our hats on. After a difficult night, I awoke to the dull morning light and turned to Jennie and suggested that we had better get up. She said that it was still the middle of the night and that I should go back to sleep. Her hat had slipped down over her eyes. Oh how we laughed!

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Walking on from Eype, up and down the next few hills, Chesil Beach soon comes in to view.

Chesil Beach was to be an ever constant view for the next few days.

The people who have put together the South West Coast Path route have given the walker an option of following Chesil Beach all the way to Weymouth, or another, inland route, along the South Dorset Ridgeway. This is a more pleasant walk with wonderful views, so I was taking it.

Before I could leave the coast to head inland I walked along the beginnings of the beach to West Bexington. This was extremely difficult as the path would disappear beneath the pebbles that make up the beach. With every noisy step your feet slip back an inch or two. By the time that I got to the car park at West Bexington my calves were screaming with a kind of cramp. The thought of a few more miles of this was enough to convince me that I had made the correct decision to head up onto the ridgeway.

Chesil Beach stretching away into the distance toward The Isle
of Portland.

Just two of the plants that can survive in this barren world.

The climb up from West Bexington is a long and tiring one. With already weary legs I marched up the road and then the farm track to the top and the beginning of the ridge walk. The reward was worth it.

What followed was a most delightful walk with views both inland and out to sea. Chesil Beach and Portland looked stunning from the distance and elevation that the climb had produced for me.

All along this walk and the days to come, I have seen many, many butterflies. I only know the names of a few common garden butterflies and new ones are a mystery to me. Also they are almost impossible to photograph with limited patience and a mobile phone. It is not everyday that a photograph as stunning as my shot of the Cornish Chough can be achieved. But I did manage to get close enough to take a grainy photo of a black and white butterfly.

A "Black and White" butterfly.

I had arranged to meet Jennie at a place where the ridge walk meets a road but when I got to it, it was not a great place to stop a car, so I suggested that I walk on a couple of miles to the Hardy Memorial.

"Kiss me Hardy". ......... Yes, it's him.

The Hardy Memorial is visible for many miles and many directions. It is in the shape of a spyglass and is to commemorate the life and achievements of Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy. Hardy went on to have an illustrious career in the Navy after the Nelson incident. But as the plaque says, it is the kiss me business that will be forever remembered.

It just goes to show that some people are only remembered for a small incident and not the monumental things that they may have achieved. Maggie Simpson springs to mind. She had a marvelous acting career which lasted for many years and is still developing today, but she will forever be remembered for the killing of Mr Burns, which was an accident.

The next day I walked from the monument to Osmington Mills. It was a shortish walk and by it's very nature was mainly flat and down hill all the way back to the coast. For some reason the path was very overgrown in places and I managed to get stung many times by stinging nettles ("stingers"). Luckily, where you find stingers you also find dock leaves which I rubbed onto the stings. What a relief!