The Wednesday Walk 6th October 2010

The Plan
Durleston Head and Swanage

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Trisha, Trudy, Sue, Diane and Tony R, David

The Walk
The rain cleared away overnight and we saw a blue sky and sunshine as we gathered at Sue's house for this week's walk. The main road to Wareham was under repair so we decided to take the Sandbanks Ferry route to Swanage. The buses are infrequent at his time of the year, so we transferred to two cars for the crossing. As we came into Swanage we detoured up to the Pines Hotel to find out whether it would be suitable for lunch. The bar lunches we have enjoyed here in the past have now given way to a rather posh restaurant. Despite some reservations that we might be a bit too casual, we went ahead and booked ourselves in for lunch.
We drove on and left the cars near Durleston Head. Then we took a pleasant walk around the head. The paths were rather muddy after the overnight rain and the castle was in a state of rebuild, but the distant views were excellent. The Isle of Wight stood out very clearly. We walked down the steep grassy hill to Swanage and along the seafront with the intent of climbing the cliff steps up to the hotel's rear entrance. Unfortunatley no one had warned us that the steps had crumbled away at some time in the past, so we had to take another route to the hotel's front door.
After lunch we walked back along the sea front (ice creams for some along the way) and around Peveril Point. After a long climb back up the hill most of us needed a rest on cold, stone seats.
The day finished off with tea and Victoria Sponge (didn't her brother, Private Sponge, appear in Dad's Army?) courtesy of Sue. Many thanks for your cooking expertise, Sue.

The Pub
Not a pub, but the Pines Hotel. Despite our usual casual attire, we were allowed into the posh restaurant and we duly behaved ourselves. David was even allowed to tackle Wendy's crossword puzzle. The food was up to the Pines' usual standard - including a steak and kidney pie!