To the lighthouse; Portland Bill – Dorset.
One of the fun things about having a grown-up son – is being taken out for a spin in his nice motor! On his visit home this time round – he surprised me with a newer model. I have to say – I was rather sad to think of his faithful runner abandoned on some faraway forecourt in Kent but I’m sentimental about cars – where as he isn’t – to me they hold memories. I give them names – he thinks I’m potty! His latest car is ‘Ravena’ – not just because it is black and it can fly – but because it has a bonnet that reminds me of a Raven’s beak. His former car had a front grille like a Great White – so I named it ‘The Shark’!
Goodbye ‘Shark’ – Hello ‘Raven’!
Monday 10th April 2017 – marked my maiden flight – or voyage – drive in ‘Ravena’ – a day out over the border to Dorset! Our first port of call was the county town, Dorchester – and as always with me – I sought sanctuary from the brightness of the day inside a church – St. Peter’s. 
Inside it was cool and quiet while outside the town hustled and bustled under a clear blue sky. I bought a perfect postcard in the church to send to my beloved Uncle Peter and his faithful lion-dog ‘Sir Winston’.
Peter loved his card – and made a couple additions of his own!
The postcard is an engraving of one of two recumbent medieval Knights that can be found sleeping on the sills of the Church’s beautiful stained glass windows – together they add a lovely feeling of peace and sleepiness to the atmosphere inside the church – especially on a Zun drenched afternoon in April.
Bathed in “Zunsheen”. Memorial to one of Dorset’s own great literary sons – poet and writer William Barnes near the steps of St. Peter’s Church – Dorchester. He was born in Dorset in 1801 – his collection of pastoral poetry is written in Dorset dialect; so it’s Zun not Sun in Dorset! William Barnes died in 1886.
From the glow inside – and outside St. Peter’s Church – it was onward to Portland Bill Lighthouse with a bought picnic from M&S in town…
On our arrival – I was thrilled to be greeted by a familiar feathered-friend perched on the gable end of Portland Bill lighthouse; the clever Raven was expecting me!
“Cronk Cronk” went the Portland Bill Raven. One only need compare it to the seagulls to recognise its impressive size.
Images from the Head. The Portland Bill Daymark: a Portland Stone obelisk erected in 1844 to warn shipping. Also my lucky find at the very tip – a Hag Stone!
A Hag Stone is simply a stone with a natural hole through it – but it is a whole lot more besides! To read more about Hag Stone lore – just click here.
From Portland Bill we cruised along to Chesil Beach…
Chesil Bank viewed from the high road coming back from Portland Bill…
Footbridge over the water to Chesil Beach…
Watching the Moon rise from the footbridge…
Listening to the drag of shingle…
A walk along Chesil Beach at sunset – is a ‘Kickerbocker Glory’ of sensory delights complete with a raspberry-ripple topping.
Here we enjoyed a walk along part of the World Heritage Jurassic Coast – and although I didn’t find any recognisable fossils – the experience was as old as Time itself – or as timeless…
‘Boys’ will be boys! It wasn’t all peace and serenity though – a couple of times they needed chastising for lobbing the occasional pebble at me – but most of the time they were good ‘Boys’!
To one side of the long strip of beach – April’s Moon rose like a huge orange – while on the other side – the Zun melted to a glorious raspberry-ripple-pink over a serene sea that just rumbled ‘n’ rolled the shingle continuously into shore – and out again…
Shingle on Chesil Beach keeping rhythmic time on our visit. There is also a ‘pay and display’ car park that’s 24 hrs a day – seven days a week!
My ‘Saturn return’ stone!
Among the millions – I found two special stones on Chesil Beach – one was a super-smooth, heart-shaped stone for a special man called, Peter – and the other was a small pebble for keeps; I have named it ‘Saturn Return’. To read about the astrological meaning of ‘The Saturn Return’ simply click here.
Speaking of return – it was all too soon time to journey home in the darkness to Devon having thoroughly enjoyed our visit to warm, Zunny Dorset.
Goodnight to the ‘The Guardian Cormorant’ who stands at the ‘gateway’ to Chesil Beach.
Finally, thank you to Archie – for chauffeuring us on our two-hundred-mile round, impulse trip to Portland Bill – we set off in the afternoon – so thank God for the lighter, Spring evenings! I look forward to our next outing – when I can’t promise not to ‘litter’ Ravena’s smart dashboard with stones and feathers again – and fill her roomy boot, with its once spotless interior, with more kindling twigs for the fire; he’s a tolerant son and a most excellent driver!
My all time memory of riding shotgun in Archie’s former car – ‘The Shark’ – was at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire – when he was overtaken by a ton or more of speeding Rhinoceros!
Many happy afternoons – ‘The Shark’ 2014 – 2017.