Weymouth to Abbotsbury - Day 2

On November 3 I hiked from Weymouth to Abbotsbury - 12.6 miles and moderate difficulty. Weather was really good again. Was able to leave at about 8am and followed the Fleet river, seeing lots of birds, quiet swans and honking swans. There were 2 army bases - the first I had to go around, but it wasn't too far out of my way. The second was open - lots of mud. Saw a beautiful brown bull in a bright green field. Some bits were relatively steep with lots of stairs. No walking on the pebbles, but there was some walking along the low tide mark and some very muddy bits.

Chesil Beach is a place where pirates would smuggle goods. There were a lot of pheasants - I've never seen so many. I side tracked to see the Old Fleet Church which was washed out by the great storm of 1824 which flooded everything in the area. I also saw a peregrine falcon as I walked uphill away from the Fleet and toward Abbotsbury. Along the way someone was practicing acrobatic flying. I wish I could have gotten a picture.

Abbotsbury was charming, but the swannage was closed and all the tea houses were closed for the season. One place was open, but there was no room to stay indoors.

There is an abby on the hill which was the last thing I wanted to see, but did end up climbing up the hill. It was 1000 years old. The "Quintessential B and B" is where I stayed. The owner made a greek dinner which I was allowed to eat by myself on the conservatory porch. The beef Stifado ( a type of greek beef stew) was so tender - I'd never had anything so tender. The room key was lost, but wasn't too worried. The walls on the 200 year old B&B were very thin - I could hear everything the neighbors were doing - luckily they didn't snore too loudly.