Day 226 - August 14th

Today we drove along Chesil Beach to the Isle of Portland. Despite being only 4 miles long and 1.7 miles wide, there's lots to see on Portland.

Our first stop was Portland Castle - one of Henry VIII's finest coastal forts.

Built in the early 1540s the castle is very well preserved.

After our visit to the castle we strolled the short distance to the harbour which was used for water sports in the 2012 Olympic Games.

We sat in a bar and had a drink and the rest of the family laughed at me when I commented that sitting in the sunshine at Portland harbour was reminiscent of being in a Mediterranean coastal resort.

Our next stop was Portland Bill Lighthouse. 

The fully functioning lighthouse standing 41 metre high was built in 1906 to guide vessels heading to Weymouth and Portland.

In 1844 a white stone obelisk was built at the southern tip of Portland Bill as a warning of a low shelf of rock extending 30 metres in the sea, and this still stands near the lighthouse.

Near the lighthouse stands "Pulpit Rock" which is an artificial stack of rocks put there in the 1870s buy quarrying operations. Despite the dangers it has for decades been a popular place for tombstoning. 

We climbed down to the rock but weren't tempted to tombstone or climb it preferring instead to just admire the view!

For a small fee, visitors to the lighthouse can climb to the top of the lighthouse so we joined a group of about 20 people for a guided tour.

There were 153 steps with a short rest part way.

We were glad to reach the top where we were told about the huge lamp (which next year will be replaced by LED lights).

The view from the top was obviously amazing.

After climbing back down and a stop for ice creams we moved onto to "Tout Quarry". We first discovered Tout Quarry in 2010. It's not well advertised and not signposted and unless you know about it you wouldn't find it. The abandoned quarry, where previously Portland stone was quarried, is now a sculpture park and is used to display an amazing collection of carvings. The sculptures found within the quarry landscape have been carved into the rock face and quarry boulders.

It was lovely to wander round the quarry in the sunshine trying to spot the sculptures.

It was obvious what some of the sculpture were supposed to be whilst others were a bit more abstract.

The scenery was breathtaking.