a tale of two bays

...well, we shouldn't have worried about the weather because the Met Office got it wrong - again. Actually, we have noticed something interesting. Every evening, we watch the news and weather, which starts with our local (South) forecast and is followed by the National forecast. Almost without fail, the weather map for the South differs from the southern part of the map for the whole country. Weird! On average, the National forecast is more accurate than the local one. Also weird!

Anyway, there was lots of sunshine, a little mist, and some lovely cloud formations. A great day for photography and, judging by the staggering number we saw, a great day for buzzards.

This morning, it was back to Weymouth to revisit the shops that L had shortlisted yesterday. It all went swimmingly well and, by lunchtime, the number still on the list had been significantly reduced. To break the day and escape the High Street, we decided to go for a walk in Ringstead Bay, where I planned to capture today's image. The sunshine was delightful and we had the beach to ourselves. While I was perched on the rocks taking a skyscape and silhouette, I heard a cry from L and, when I turned around, she had vanished. Peering over the boulders, I discovered that she had taken a shortcut and slipped on the algae covered stone. Fortunately, no real damage and,. after a rest, she was able to limp back to the car.

The plan had been to go back to Dorchester for the afternoon but, having had time to think, L wanted to go back to Weymouth as she was now sure of what she wanted me to whisper into Santa's ear. Mission accomplished.

With much more afternoon left than I had feared, we took the scenic route back so that I could get some more shots of Durdle Door. It is quite a steep climb back to the car park, so L rested at the top while I ran down. It was actually quite misty looking to the west, so I chose this view of St Oswald's Bay looking back along the sunny east line of the Purbeck coast. I have always loved this bay with its line of Portland Limestone outcrops running across from Durdle Door towards Dungy Head.

When I got back to the car park, L was getting a bit agitated. Apparently, she had been having visions of me slipping off the rocks...