The branch line from Bridport to Bridport Harbour opened to traffic 31st March 1884. It closed tp passenger traffic in 1930 but operated freight until the line was closed in 1962. Unfortunately I have been unable to the length of the branch to West Bay, but a 1922 timetable shows the journey took 8 minutes (probably travelling at a speed no ( Read more... )

I do not know if this strange practice occurs widly outside UK. In addition I am not sure why people do it, I cannot see it is a protest about anything, or an to raise money for chaitry, or as publicity for an event/club/college course etc etc etc. Maybe the perpetrators do it purely for the fun and to add colour to a location. As far as I ( Read more... )

I still have my childhood love for steam railway locomotives. While on holiday last week, I visited the Swanage Railway. This was a branch line to the seaside town of Swanage from a junction with the main line at Wareham. The branch was closed in 1972, but re-opened as a heritage railway in 1982. Currently the line terminates a few km south of ( Read more... )

Prices for holiday accommodation, flights to holiday destinations etc increase steeply when schools are on holiday. The accommodation I rented last week on the south coast will double in price when schools break for summer. In addition holiday resorts and beaches will be crowded, entertainment, food, ice-cream etc etc might also suddenly ( Read more... )

I spent last week on holiday in Dorset and of course sampled several locally brewed beers; in addition I took part in a guided tour of Palmers Brewery, Bridport (established 1794).

One beer I bought, but have not yet drunk, is this one:


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I think it is safe to say everyone in UK is totally fed-up with our government's inability to solve "Brexit" (UK leaving EU). In the campaign before the 2016 Referrendum (we could vote "leave" or "remain") politicians and a variety of self-appointed "experts" told the people of UK a great many lies, half-truths and pure conjecture. It appears ( Read more... )

During my holiday in September I visited Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset. This is type locality for the Kimmeridgian Stage of the Upper Jurassic, dated approximately 157 to 152 million years old and sandwiched between the Oxfordian Stage below and Tithonian stage above ( Read more... )

This week I read parts of the 2015 annual report published by “Portland Bird Observatory” It contains a section listing the birds that have previously been ringed and later re-captured at Portland. The Observatory is on the tip of Portland Bill, Dorset, an isthmus of land projecting about 5km into the English Channel. I am not an ornithologist ( Read more... )

Close to where I spent a recent holiday are three locations used in films or TV series.

First is The Cobb, Lyme Regis harbour used in 1981 film "The French Lieutenant's Woman" starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. The main characters Sarah Woodruff (Streep) and Simon Smithson (Irons) first meet each other on The Cobb, the massive sea wall of ( Read more... )

I could not resist photographing this window of a house in a street near Weymouth harbour, Dorset. Quite an appropriate decoration style to see in a sea-side town.


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