Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
March 2016: Weymouth
Around seven miles south of Dorchester lies the traditional fishing port and resort town of Weymouth (population 52,000). The two aspects of Weymouth are fairly distinct, and my short visit only took in the attractive harbour area. In some ways, it felt like a south-coast version of Whitby in Yorkshire, albeit without the abbey, Captain Cook and Dracula!
I was interested to see that some of the roads in the harbour area still featured embedded railway tracks, in the style of a tramway. Although these have been out of use since the late 20th century, Weymouth used to be a rare example of a UK town where street-running of heavy-rail, mainline trains took place, for the purpose of offering direct connections to ferries bound for continental Europe.
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Isle of Portland
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From Weymouth, it is possible to follow the A354 road onto the Isle of Portland and then use local roads to reach the southern tip of the island, known as Portland Bill. While the drive itself was interesting, my arrival at Portland Bill Lighthouse in low season turned out to be an unremarkable experience.
| Linked reports from same trip: |
| Liverpool |
| South & SW England |
| Bristol |
| Lacock |
| Winchester |
| Salisbury |
| Bournemouth |
| Dorchester |
| Exeter |
| Dawlish |
| Manchester |