The weather forecasters were right and the sun is shining again.

First stop today is Durdle Door. The campsite we are staying at is literally 5 mins from the coast which is why they get away with charging £30 a night. As usual I have forgotten my mask so I have to go back for it. We are happy we don’t have to pay to park the van here as its £15 for a day visit!

The route to Durdle Door is down… downhill. Quite steep at the start but gentler at the cliff end. It’s really busy even on a Tuesday in October. Most people are being sensible and keeping to the same side going up & down so its not a problem to socially distance.

It’s a glorious morning and we have clear views of the huge cruise ships, mothballed and anchored in Weymouth Bay. We can identify a TUI, a Cunard and a P&O.

Tony walked to the coast yesterday in the drizzle and took some pictures of the cruise ships which were a little closer and shrouded in mist.

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Just before Durdle Door is a beautiful small crescent beach with yellow sand and turquoise waters. There are steep wooden steps down to the beach, one set falling apart we assume due to a landslide, so they’d built a second set.

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At the bottom of the hill, on the cliff top we are rewarded with great views of Durdle Door, a large limestone arch and westward up the coast towards Weymouth Bay.

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We decide to walk down the wooden steps to get a ground level view of the arch and take a walk along the beach. There are some hardy people swimming and paddling.

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The cliffs rise sharply from here and we can see people walking high up on their green tops.

We start our walk back, up from the beach and then back up the hill. It’s a drag but the sun is shining. At the top we catch our breath and then take the cliff footpath to Lulworth Cove. Up and down hill of course.

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Lulworth Cove is a renowned circular bay, a Unesco world heritage site. Must admit I don’t get the fuss. Again the village is extremely busy.

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After a wander down to the Cove we go the Lulworth Cove Inn for lunch. After taking a seat in the garden we end up running inside to eat as rain arrives. The pub is nearly 400 years old but it’s difficult to tell with it’s contemporary interior.

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We walk through West Lulworth, which is very chocolate boxy to a second pub, The Crown Inn, a 16C Inn with low ceilings and more character. As we arrive there’s a huge drama going on as a group of 7 people including children are being thrown out the pub, none of them wearing masks. There’s shouting and swearing and one woman is manhandled out of the pub. All very unnerving.

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Whilst we drink our pint it hails outside for 5 minutes. Very strange weather.

It’s a 30mins walk along the road back to the campsite, mostly uphill of course.

After a lol around in the van we decide to go for one drink at the campsite bar and restaurant which is busier than we expected. Homemade enchiladas for dinner accompanied by TV.

Seventeen and a half thousand steps today, 93 floors and over 7 miles but less than 3k calories burnt, how can that be fair!