A Day Out Round Studland
Today was another staying in one place sort of day. I had a couple of possible routes planned, to choose depending on how I was feeling. To be frank, I wasn’t feeling like a day of Dorset hills – yesterday had been long, and the next two days were also planned to be long. So I looked at the map and decided on an even shorter day of local sightseeing.
First, I meandered through Godlingston Heath, stopping for photos of peaty streams and sandy paths.
Then, to the little shop in Studland, to replenish my food supply. Fortified with crisps, one hill seemed like a reasonable prospect. So I set off up Ballard Down. There was a fair stream of people walking down to Old Harry Rocks, which I joined. Part freewheeling, part walking to avoid being anti-social.
It was quite busy there, but enough space to go round. I paused for photos and a snack before heading off along a hill-avoiding track into Studland. The village now seemed really quite busy so I headed north back to the quieter heathland. A mix of road and track got me to the ferry, where I turned back and did some more exploring in the heath – which included some interestingly swampy woodland.
I pushed on as far as the beach. I hadn’t brought my trunks with me, but there’s a section of beach for those that have forgotten their trunks. However, collective opinion was that it was a bit chilly for that sort of thing and everyone was fully clothed. In any case, all this sand didn’t seem so good for my gears so I headed back inland.
It was into the afternoon now, so I headed back to my pod. A shower, change and bite to eat later I then headed back to Studland – this time on foot. The pub there wasn’t showing the football, so was pretty sparsely occupied and social distancing in the marquee was easy.
I walked back a slightly different route, via Aggkestone Rock, over the empty heath, as evening arrived. The 4G there was sketchy, but I looked in on Twitter and got an early night. The day had been easy: a 26km, 350m climb ride in just under 5 hours; and 14km, 170m climb of walking to the pub and back.
Between & Beyond 