WEYMOUTH

The drive across the bottom from Dover took us along the coast through some delightful countryside.  Beautiful seascape vistas were ours to enjoy as long as you didn't want to stop to enjoy as there wasn't parking areas available.  Villages with narrow streets were again the norm and you could see the shipping influence in the names of the inns and streets etc. Finally we went onto the A roads and then the motorway taking us away from the coast. We were happy to be able to travel more smoothly by now and the miles soon slipped by.
Weymouth has a strong naval influence and there are various MOD (ministry of defence) properties around the town. Just south of Weymouth connected to the mainland is the island of Portland which is reknowned for Portland Stone. This lovely stone is used in many buildings around the area and even the King Henry VIII fort built at Portland is of this stone.
We visited the castle / fort and enjoyed a tour with lots of photo ops. The fort was built in 1545 to help protect the harbour and was used up until the end of WWII when it was finally decommissioned and sat unused till around the 1960's when the building was recognised for it's historic value.  During the 1800's it had been converted to be used as the private residence of the captain of the fort and was used this way for about 50 yrs untill the navy took over running the fort.

We also enjoyed walking the esplanade and yes it was sunny but a very cool breeze was blowing but there on the beach (gravel) folk were sun baking and turning red. It was so obvious. I am sure the water must have been cold however as there was no-one swimming. There were carousels and food vendors and deck chairs for hire (for 2pound) and there were folk just sitting in the deck chairs snoozing and turning red!
We were surprised to come across an ANZAC memorial on the sea front and it was quite moving to read the words there honouring our N Z and Aussie members of the forces who passed through that area during the first World War.

Weymouth is certainly a seaside destination for folk and when the sun shines they come out to enjoy, and so they should.