Days 14, 15 and 16: Bournemouth and home

Day 14: Travel to Bournemouth

It was a smooth journey from Torquay to Bournemouth. I quickly had a drive through Lime Regis on the way, then had a relaxing DVD evening at my hotel.

Day 15: Bournemouth multi-sport activities

I had a full day of exercise today. First it was out with the bike and pedal along the promenade route to Hengistbury Head to the East of Bournemouth. It was very windy today, but luckily, underneath the cliffs on the lower promenade, it wasn't too bad.

The Head has some small hills and then stretching out from this is a sandy bar, full off beach huts.

From one of the hills looking out to the sand bar.
Click to zoom in.

A sand bar full of beach huts.

I walked along the hills and out to the end of the bar.

Map of part of my walk.
The sand bar almost joins with the other side.

At the end of the bar. Not far to the other side.

At then end, I saw the ferry that takes you across the narrow estuary, and along the other beach some wind-water sports:

The skies were pretty good, until the afternoon when it started raining.

On the way back from the Head, I did a bit of jogging before getting on my bike and cycling west to Bournemouth pier:

From where I watched some surfing:

Then, after having a very late lunch, I cycled back to the hotel. Another great day and lots of exercise.


Total distance: 27km (16km cycling, 9km walking, 2km jogging)

My route. (Click to enlarge.)

A little surprise at around 22:00 was the fire alarm going off. We all had to evacuate, the fire brigade was called, but it was just a fault with a detector in one of the rooms. We had to stand around in the cold for half an hour, and when we went back to our rooms, the alarm kept going on and off for about another 30 mins!!!

Day 16: Return home

Apart from a little bit of localised flooding delays around Chichester, it was a smooth drive home. Then it was lunch with my family, washing bike (very sandy from yesterday) and clothes, sorting out car and stuff ready for work back at school tomorrow.

I had a great holiday. It is possible to have a fun, outdoor holiday in wintertime - and it's certainly a lot less crowded. I have plans for mid-term break (aka half-term holiday) and Easter, already!

Total distance covered (in car - bike, running and walking not included): 1,242 miles

Day 13B: Dartmouth and Berry Head

Dartmouth

I continued up the coast, after my seal spotting, arriving at Dartmouth.

A castley-thing on the East bank of the estuary.

Different views of Dartmouth and Kingswear on the other bank.

Then I got the small car ferry.

The ferry itself is just a floating platform.
This is pushed and pulled by a tug boat.

Dartmouth taken from the ferry as I went across.

Berry Head (nr Brixham)

Finally, after sunset, I arrived at the peninsular at the Southern end of Torbay (remember I went to the Northern End two days ago.) There is a fort there...

... and a lighthouse on the end.

This is the shortest lighthouse I've ever seen!

Map of my walk on Berry Head

And that was the end of one of the busiest days of the holiday.

Day 13A: Unexpected wildlife

As I mentioned before, sometimes I choose places to visit because they look geographically interesting on the map, then other things surprise me and catch my interest. Today was an example. I started at...

Start point

It's another Devonian peninsular with a lighthouse.

My route along Start Point. Taking the road on the way down,
back along the high central rocks.

At first, I didn't think I was going to see much as it was very foggy...

There is a lighthouse in the background somewhere!

The sea was very calm on this side of the peninsular - the reflection effects mixed with fog give a weird scene.

Can you make out what is what?

But as we got closer and slightly lower, the fog cleared a bit.

The sea was much rougher on the windy side:

You can make out the transition between rough and smooth sea.

and what was the surprise? Well, it was the gulls. A huge flock was circling around the cliffs and there must have been lots of fish around as one after the other the gulls dived into the water. It was an amazing sight as they folded their wings back and became almost torpedo-like a split second before they hit the water.

I made this picture by putting together three rapid shots.
The splash in the middle frame is from another gull.

These are frames I put together from a movie clip I made.
The gull doesn't hit the cliff in the last frame, a branch blocked my view.

For more action-gull photos, click the Wildlife on holiday page.

Slapton Ley

This is another geographically "weird" place I had targeted. A spit grew out from one side - sand and shingle being pushed along the coast, and then it joined up. On one side is the sea (salt water) and the other is a fresh water lake.

Slapton Ley from the hillside

and from the "ley" itself.

While in Torcross, which is at one end of the "Ley," I had my second duck attack of the holiday...

Blackpool sands

Next stop was a lucky accident. I saw a nice bay as I was driving by and pulled in.

Yes, the sun actually came out for a few minutes today!

and the second surprise of the day - another wildlife one - there was a seal really close to shore. I was amazed how it didn't get swept on the beach by the large waves.

As this entry is getting rather long, I'm going to split it into two parts.

Day 12: Water cycle

So today, it was raining. A range of rain from annoying blowing spitting stuff that seems to come from all directions onto the camera lens, to moderately heavy. (I use the term "heavy rain" in the UK with caution after being in heavy Ethiopian rain!)

But I decided to go for a cycle ride anyway!

I actually cycled from my Travelodge in Torquay to Brixham (the other end of Torbay) and back.  Total distance was 28km (approx 18 miles) and although you would think: seaside and coast = flat, it's not, rising to about 70m in places. To see just how "not flat" it is, here is the profile data from the GPS:

Once in Brixham, I walked around the harbour and out to the breakwater.

This old ship, behind Pikachu, is berthed in the harbour. What is its name?

From the other side. Can you see the ship on the left?

I took these Panoramas:

As always, click to zoom in on any photo.

On the way back, the rain was a little heavier and as I was whizzing down hills, the spray was soaking my legs and shoes, so it was great to have a hot shower back at the hotel.

It took me about an hour each way, and the fastest I went was 49km/h.

Map of route there and back

Heart rate, Elevation and speed information collected
during the last part of the ride.

If you're using the graph in school, a good bit to look at is at around 4.8km when everything suddenly changes. Can you see why? Also, what are the "blips" in speed (blue line) at 3.2km, 6.0km etc.?

I wonder what crazy thing I'll do tomorrow?

Day 11: Rainy Torquay

Well, as was predicted, it was wet today although I did managed to get some walking in when it was only spitting.

Torquay is part of Torbay which is a large bay which also has the towns of Paignton and Brixham along it. First I went to the Northern point of the bay, called "Hope's Nose." From the satellite photo, it looks like a gentle walk:

My route recorded on GPS in green. Click to zoom in.

Of course, when you get there, it's like this:

and you find you are actually 90 metres above sea-level before you start. When I put my walk data into Google Earth later and rotated in 3D, this is what it looks like:

and the elevation data showing my descent, roam around and ascent:

Pikachu saw some small islands off-shore. The low one nearest to land is called "Lead stone" and the larger one in the background, "Ore Stone."

Climbing the rocks in a little bay.
(you can see droplets of rain got on the lens)

Pikachu is horrified to see all the rubbish people have not put in the bin!!!!

Pikachu crosses the "Hope's Nose Canyon".

There were some amazing rock formations with little striations looking like someone had thrown paint. The second one looks like a waterfall or lightning

Then, in the afternoon, as it was raining harder, I just toured around Torbay in the car.