I think it is fair to conclude that the English south coast is beautiful no matter where you go. The same goes for the light houses!
Weymouth is close to 3 hours by train from London, there is a direct connection and it’s a pleasant trip through a nice landscape.
Should you ever be in need of a place to stay in Weymouth I can highly recommend Beach Guesthouse (34 Lennox Street). It is a 2 minutes walk from the beach, they serve a brilliant (English) breakfast and the owners are really friendly and helpful people. Apart from that it is clean and quiet.
After arrival on Friday evening I took a walk along the promenade and found the cinema. I saw Mamma Mia, which must have been one of the worst movies of the year. I am so glad that Bill decided not to be in this one, and I have never cringed as much in a cinema before as when hearing Pierce Brosnan sing. Because he really can’t sing – it is so bad. And apart from that, he also acts really bad in Mamma Mia. The only highlight for me was Julie Walters but I am not recommending this film.
After a good night sleep and breakfast I met up with my good friend. We live far apart, Weymouth is about in the middle for us. We drove to Portland to have a look at Bill, the lighthouse, and as you can see, Bill was a beauty.
Bill is located on the very south point of Portland. We took a walk around the south point of the island and stumbled upon some Love, Actually in the grass:
That made our day, and if you happen to go and visit Portland Bill, make sure to try the freshly baked scones in the cafe right beside it, they are scrummilicious and will make your day too!
After Portland we went back to Weymouth. Weymouth is a nice city: it wasn’t too overcrowded, they have a several miles long promenade, a lot of nice shops, blue and white deck chairs, the mandatory beach train, red, white and blue fish and chips stalls, ice cream, and – they have pedalos.
We call them waterbikes in the Netherlands, but the Brits call them pedalos. And we felt like trying one of them. So we paid and walked towards the guy who already had a pedalo ready for us in the water, and he invited us to get on board. But the problem was that we spotted Victor. And we told the guy that we wanted Victor in stead. And he looked at us and asked the only obvious question: Why?
We somehow managed to mumble ourselves out of it. We did not tell him that Victor, for us, was connected to Bill Nighy, and that, after having visited a light house called Bill, there was no way we were going to pedal on a pedalo called “Sierra” or some other stupid name that did not make any sense. To us.
The pedalo guy thought we were insane. But we got Victor and had a great time conquering Weymouth bay with him.
The last day I spend lazying about. I took some pictures, I ate some pretty good ice cream at Rossi’s, I walked a long walk along the promenade, I messed about with some shells, I studied the seagulls and generally had a good day.
In the train on my way back my eye fell on the Observer my neighbour was reading. There was a big article about Bill, the real Bill, with a picture and all. My neighbour saw me looking, smiled and handed me the paper. What a good way to end a Bill themed weekend.
And I can recommend a visit to both Portland and Weymouth to the fullest. You can find some more photos in the gallery.
Great pictures, Ingrid. I almost can’t wait to come to England. This time next week we will be in London.
So, Mamma Mia sucked. Maybe it’s because Bill isn’t in it. How is his singing voice, by the way?
@Pedro: which places are you going to visit, or are you just going to decide while you are there?
Bill is, of course, a great singer. Just check Still Crazy! :)
Pix are great. I haven’t read all my Observer yet but I haven’t noticed Bill. Was it in yesterday’s edition?
Yes page 43, in the main section. You can’t miss him, big and very Bill like pic. :)
No, no. The entire trip is already (sort of) planned.
First we visit London for a couple of days. Then we take the train to Maidstone from where we will go to Dover and some other places. Then it’s off to Salisbury. From there we’ll go to Monkey World and Longleat. Then we go to Bristol and hop over to Cardiff to see the city and the Doctor Who Exhibit. Next is Oxford and then it’s back to London again. And that in just 14 days !
When back in London, we’re also going to visit London Zoo at night (1st of August).
Wow – that’s quite a trip! Monkey World is not too far from Weymouth actually, so if you can squeeze it in, Weymouth is quite nice for an afternoon stroll and an icecream! Look forward to hear how you trip went, you have to start blogging again! :)
We’ll see ;-)
Ha! We were also on the coast last weekend; we went ehm… wadlopen! [Van Dale translates it as ‘walking across the mud flats’, which actually sounds as dirty as it was.] Wonderful experience, and the clouds here were just as beautiful as in England!
I have tried “wadlopen” (wikipedia says: mudflat hiking) too, a couple of years ago. It’s quite an experience but I think it was a once in a lifetime for me :) It’s a weird tradition!
And yep, just checked your pictures, your blue sky and white clouds looks quite the same to the ones we had on Portland. Perfect walking weather! :)