Portland

On one of my first gazes out of our sea view window this morning I noticed man and his best friend were out paddle boarding again. They have it mastered.
After the obligatory B&B big breakfast at which I tried kippers for the first time and didn't mind we drove down to Portland which is south of the seaside town of Weymouth connected by a causeway of sorts. The area was much bigger to drive around than I had imagined but only one road in.
We drove to the top of the island, not really an island but thats how it feels.
The views were spectacular and they had a statue of olympic rings up there as the area hosted the sailing events for the Olympic Games in 2012. Portland also has the National Sailing Academy on site.
We then drove across to the other side where the light house is situated and had a walk around there too. It operates all electronically now after removing the last light house keeper in 1995.
On the drive around the homes become very same same as most are built from the same stone - Portland Stone! An interesting fact that this is where Portland Stone comes from.
It is a very rugged coastline and no sand in sight, just stones on the beach, as the area is part of the World Heritage listed Jurassic Coast.
It was another beautiful day today in this area with the temp getting to 25C by late afternoon. Two lovely days to finish out trip - a bonus!
We left Portland stopping in Dorchester for lunch and a short wander on our last real day in the UK. The town centre area was quite a cute mall area.
From Dorchester it was a long drive to Heathrow where we are booked into the Premier Inn which has a walkway to Terminal 4 where we depart from in the morning. Now that is handy!
Phil did have to drop me off with the luggage though while he found his way around to the other side of Heathrow to return our rental car. All went well and he was even lucky enough to get a shuttle back to this terminal so he is now 'home' safe and sound.
And now at the end of the day the sky is cloudy again.

Phil - Well, the drive is over! Dropped back the little car that never missed a beat. It tried to match Volvo's, BMW and Mercs that zoomed by us, but the egg beater engine could only do so much. However, after driving 2200 km, around the freeways, and local small lanes, I would rather have the small car. You can literally put them anywhere. So my summary on cars in the UK, is size does not matter.
Heathrow Airport is big. It takes about 30 minutes to drive around it, as there is a perimetre road around it. Mind you, you see a plane taking off every few minutes, so it is hard to keep an eye on the road when watching the tyres fold up into the plane.Read more