A Quiet Day In Bournemouth

Yesterday was our last big family day for our weekend away. After our beach visit the younger ones - my sister’s kids and grandkids had to head home to London and Bath, for work and school on Tuesday. It was a quiet evening back at the house with just me, my sister and brother-in-law.

This morning we packed up and were out of the house by 10am. I finally got a decent picture of the front of the house - with 6 couples and me, there were 7 vehicles parked outside, so I had to wait til they all left to get a good shot (see first Extra photo). Of course Alfie the Campervan still had to be in it!

I decided I was in no rush to get home so I had the day to explore. It was one of those days that I had SO many possible photos for blip!!  So I decided my main one would just be a simple picture from the beach in Bournemouth which is where I was by mid afternoon. As you can see, with it being a work day and not sunny at all, the beach was almost deserted!  Apparently it was heaving over the 4-day Bank Holiday weekend!  What amazing weather we had!

But first - I went to a lovely small volunteer-run Aviation Museum across the road from Bournemouth airport. It had a mixture of commercial, private, and military planes (see second Extra), and even a bus, a fire engine and a mobile air traffic control tower (the orange and white vehicle). I’ve decided I like volunteer-run museums. I went to a fantastic vintage bus museum near Birmingham a month ago. This one was a bit more ‘rough around the edges’ but the people working there were enthusiastic and informative. It’s a great place for kids because they can actually get into most of the cockpits and really have a hands-on visit. Some of the displays were still a work-in-progress and it was fun to see planes being renovated.

There were 2 commercial airplane sections which provided the most interest for me. One was a BAC-1-11, which was flown by a couple of US airlines but not United. And then a nose section of a Boeing 737-200 which is an aircraft I used to work on when I first started my career in the 80s!  This one was owned by Palmair, a charter company run by Bath Travel. This was their one and only plane before they finally went out of business a few years ago. They had 8 pilots and 11 Flight Attendants!  I found the history of this company a fascinating comparison to my own company with over 25,000 Flight Attendants!

I finally pulled myself away from this lovely little museum and made my way down to the beach (see third Extra photo).

Bournemouth area has over 7 miles of beachfront and for much of it the beaches are way below the cliff top. I gradually drove along the whole stretch of the road above the beach, from east to west, and decided to park at one point and head down to the beach. There are a series of ‘zigzag paths’ that give access to the beach. I went down Gordon’s Zigzag in Boscombe (bottom left) and had a pleasant couple of hours along the promenade. I ate the snack lunch I’d brought with me, sitting on one of the deck chairs in the picture. I walked a ways and took loads of pictures of the beach huts. I also treated myself to an ice cream which is a MUST when on a beach, yes?  Finally, just for the novelty I took a funicular (called a ‘Cliff Lift’ here in Bournemouth) back up to the top at Fisherman’s Walk. The 30-second journey cost just £1.70.

Once at the top I enjoyed a clifftop walk back to the van. The haze was lifting a bit and I could just see a little bit of the Isle of Wight to the east and the Isle of Purbeck to the west. (Why is it called the ISLE of Purbeck??  It’s clearly not an island!)

Not satisfied to end my day there, I decided to drive on towards Poole and made several stops to briefly check out some more beaches. I got a lovely view of Bournemouth Pier in the distance. Finally - I drove out to the very end of the little peninsula called ‘Sandbanks’. Why?  Because it was there, of course!  

Sandbanks makes up part of what forms Poole Harbour and is the home of many super-wealthy. I guess I won’t be looking for a house there, then! I had forgotten that there is a ferry that goes back and forth to the Isle of Purbeck (Studland). It’s actually a chain ferry and the journey takes just 4 minutes.  It saves over 20 miles of driving on the land route to the west side of tbe harbour. I got there at dusk when the light was beautiful and had a pleasant few minutes of watching the ferry go back and forth a couple of times.

FINALLY I decided it was time to drive home. But what a great day I’d had!  I don’t think I’d like it so much during a busy hot Bank holiday weekend, but today was perfect. I shall return!  

It was 2 hours drive back home and once there I pretty much collapsed into my bed. It was good to be home!