random ramblings: Those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer

On the second Monday of our holiday, I showed husband my new route for walking into the centre of Swanage, and he agreed it was much better. He had take a slightly different route himself on the Friday, which had involved walking through a a park. After a while we went our separate ways, as I was ready for lunch and he wasn't. I had become increasingly annoyed by my hat blowing away with the breeze, and as I walked past a shop which sold mainly outdoor things, I spotted a neat little pile of hats, which seemed to be crocheted or hand knotted The did rather put me in mind of the type of hat worn in Downton Abbey. They had grey and cream. I tried one on, it seemed to fit better than the other one, and felt as if it would stay on. I duly paid for it and wore it, although it probably completely flattened my hair.
I decided that I would explore the Northern half of the promenade, as so far I had only been less than halfway, to the part where the sea defences were being strengthened. Again it was a hot day and I had chosen a sleeveless t shirt for a change. I had also liberally applied factor 20. I eventually reached the far end, and walked a little way up the road, but there was not much to see. It was the road which led inland and was the route which the bus had taken to Bournemouth. I walked back to the corner, and looked at a restaurant/cafe, The Bull and Boat, which I had seen online. I think it has a bar as well. I checked the little beach hut, but they did not do decaff
I made my way in to the Bull and Boat and found that they did decaffeinated coffee, and bought one to sit outside and drink. It was quite pleasant in the shade watching what was going on on the beach. All attempts to phone husband failed, the signal wasn't too good, or he may have had his phone on silent.

Swanage pier from the other side

start of northern beach

long lens view across to lookout

I began to walk back, and eventually managed to contact husband, so he came along to meet me. I said I thought my back felt a bit sore, I hadn't realised that the sleeveless T shirt was lower cut at the back. he said yes it did look red, so one of my purchases that day was after sun cream. I had searched for a post box for postcards earlier, but couldn't find one. I went into a shop to ask, and found out there was one yards away!
Over the weekend, we had noticed there seemed to be too many wasps coming into the kitchen. They all seemed rather angry. When I stepped outside, I spotted the biggest wasps' nest I had ever seen, attached to the eaves of the bungalow. They also seemed to be flying across to the garage, and crawling in through a crack in the wall. There was no garage key, so we could not check for another nest.
Husband said that as we were planning to go to Corfe Castle the next day, and that is where the cottage agency is, we could report it. In the meantime I kept the kitchen window firmly shut. Not easy,as I had to also shut the door to minimise the risk of anything setting the smoke alarm off, whilst cooking sausages from the local butcher, or breakfast bacon.

wasps nest

wasps on garage wall

When we returned form our trip to town that Monday, I examined my back and found it quite red, with a diagonal white mark where my bag strap had been. Despite the soreness I thought it funny, I never get an even suntan these days.
So the next day off to Corfe Castle we went. We found the car park, free to N T members, then had a little look in the shop/information room. As we left I looked at the looming hill, and thought, I'l never make it to the top. The advised route is a sort of nature walk around the back of the castle, which also passes an old mill. There was yet another party of schoolchildren there. Eventually we arrived at the castle entrance, off the town square, and I was glad to see that the castle didn't seem anywhere near as high, as we had done some sort of gradual climb on the way round.
We produced our N T cards, and were soon in the grounds, exploring, reading about the history etc, and hearing many more school groups receiving instruction. We eventually climbed up to where the keep is. I wanted to go higher, but a lot of the ground was uneven, husband's toe was still sore, neither of us is keen on heights, but I decided I would brave it further and went as high as I could. Most of the stones remain in the position where they landed when Cromwell's men blew it up, and have stayed there for over 300 years, but there are parts which are tricky, and there are notices everywhere about slips trips and falls. Occasionally, if I looked down I felt a bit queasy, but the views were fantastic. There was a great view of the steam railway.
Eventually I rejoined husband, who had been resting in a lovely green space,and we gradually made our way back down.

Coming round the back

Front entrance

looking down

Entrance and village from above

Just where they fell

good view of Poole harbour

and of the Swanage railway

Hungry sparrow in the cafe garden

We decided lunch in the tea room garden was in order, it was quite hot still, but pleasant. we ordered a Coronation chicken sandwich and a ham sandwich,and shared them. As I went through to the ladies' room at one point, I spotted a first response paramedic car at the entrance to the castle. I told husband and he said 'Yes it has driven through'. Later we saw the big ambulance, but apparently, it could not get across the bridge and through the further gates. As we strolled around the town square we heard a loud noise, and the air ambulance came into view. He circled the village a few times, the went in, landing on the green area where husband and I had been about half an hour earlier.

The air ambulance flies in

He lands near the keep

Taking off backwards

Wareham Quayside

We popped into the little local church to have a look, then found a stone seat to sit on. A gentleman came along, who told us he was from Holland but had lived in the village for 30 years and had never ever seen the air ambulance land at the castle. We all hoped that the casualty would be OK.
Later, we did discover that a woman had fallen, how far we don't know, but she had sustained leg injuries, a suspected dislocated ankle, which also can mean a bad fracture. Husband couldn't understand why the land ambulance paramedics couldn't just carry her down, but I explained that they use trolleys, and the ground would have been far too uneven.
Much later after husband had gone off in search of a comfort stop, the air ambulance took off backwards. It was fascinating to watch. Husband actually managed to get shot of it taking off, and later e-mailed it to the local paper, who used it on their webpage. So now we are even, both having had photo's published.
We drove over to Wareham to explore a bit. We had actually called in on the way back from Durdle Door the previous week, and found a lovely tearoom.
We wandered down the quay, then round some of the streets, and husband spotted a barber's shop so went in for a a haircut. I said he would find me in the tea room. I explored another couple of streets, but the sun was so hot I thought I would melt, so I headed for the tea room. I asked for tea, yes it sounds crazy, but the tearoom was fairy cool and I resisted the urge to sit in the garden area.
Husband eventually came to join me. I said I would have liked to have found the remains of the town walls, but just couldn't cope with the heat.
We called in at the supermarket,bought enough stuff to last till the and of the week,and more ice cubes to keep it all cool. Then we drove back to Swanage having forgotten to report the wasps nests.

Sunset over nine barrow down

Next morning, I rang the cottage agency, and they said that they would get in touch with the owner. We had actually discovered that the owner lives in a town about 12 miles away from our home. later they rang me back to say that someone, presumably from the local council, would be round the next day to deal with it.
That morning, as we set off, we decided to walk right down to Peveril point and the lookout. As we approached the lookout the watchkeeper held up a sign,saying open to visitors, pointing at us and the sign. We laughed and made our way round to the door. The lookouts these days are all manned by volunteers, and the very nice chap talked about the work they do, what they see, and pondered why the inshore rescue dinghy was pootling around the bay. He said that conditions were quite unusual, in that the whole of the Isle of Wight could be seen, in fact we could see right along to the power station by Southampton. We bought some of his notecards, then as his colleague arrived for a chat, and the phone began to ring more, we decided it was time to thank him and leave.
We had a good wander, then headed off for the Trattoria, to book a table for the Thursday evening. We read the lunch menu,and decided to stay for lunch, husband had a frittata, and I had crab salad. We had decided that we would go on the pier that day, so duly paid up. We went into a little museum, which had a cafe, and they had Dorset apple cake on sale, I hadn't seen any so far, so we bought some for later. We walked right to the end of the pier, there are hundreds of tiny plaques nailed to the planks with messages engraved, some romantic, some happy memories, others in memory of loved ones who loved Swanage.
We walked round Swanage a bit more, then had coffee at Earthlights.
Late that evening we walked back to the cliff path for the sunset, but it was too late and too cloudy. We had attempted to find a sunset the previous evening, but hadn't been too successful. The watchman had told us one of the better places to go, so we said we would bear it in mind.