As mentioned before I’m staying with Gordon’s Brother, Rendel and his wife, Mandy in Stalbridge in the English county of Dorset. Stalbridge is a small town just inside Dorset’s border with Somerset.

I woke early Monday morning about 5 am and joined Gordon on his morning constitutional walk. The sun was just up and the town was still sleeping apart from a few people walking their dogs (and one silly jogger). We walked at a brisk pace (as usual I was trying to keep up with Gordon) taking some photos of the local architecture. We walked down a dead end road with a couple of very nice houses at the end. Gordon took a couple of snaps and as were coming back out of the road a gentleman was standing in the road with hands on hips. I expected him to say “well well, whats all this then?“. But he asked who are we and why were we talking photos. Gordon explained we’re just tourists taking photos of the architecture of the area – “don’t worry nothing sinister mate“. He seemed to accept this and (to my disappointment) didn’t call the local bobbies. I guess we’re the first tourists Stalbridge ever had. We pushed on trying to find a coffee shop. The local supermarket, Dike and Sons had a coffee shop but it was yet to open. I guess our body clocks are not aligned with Stalbridge time yet.

Back to the house Rendel had prepared breakfast of cereal, fruit and toast. Some of the fruit was grown in Rendel’s garden. We then took a walk back to Dike and Sons to pick up the paper and have that coffee. Coffee was average – maybe we should be English and just drink tea.

Rendel and Mandy promised to show us the sights of Dorset. We took off on our road trip down to the seaside.

Sherborne

First stop was Sherborne where they have a impressive Abbey. The Abbey is a Church of England church and reminded me of the cathedrals of Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur. We walked around inside the church and then outside around the grounds to the school. The school has been used in a couple of movies including “Goodbye Mr Chips (1969)”.

Cerne Abbas Giant

The second stop was the Cerne Abbas Giant, This is a 50 metre image of a naked man holding a large club outlined on the side of a hill. The outline was a bit overgrown but you could still make out his giant erection – which I suspect is the main attraction. Quite cool nonetheless.

Next we headed to the coast. The roads we very narrow sometimes with enough room for only one car. When meeting another vehicle head on, one has to back up to find a embayment to allow the other to pass. The locals drive a a furious pace even on these roads. I surprised we didn’t see any head-on accidents.

The roads did however provided some beautiful scenery of rolling farmland coming up the coast.

Burton Bradstock (Hive Beach)

We reached the English Channel at Burton Bradstock also known as Hive Beach. Rendel has a favourite restaurant right on the beach, Hive Beach Cafe. Nick and his wife, Angie joined us for a seafood lunch. The place is very popular and we were lucky to get a table inside, as the rain was coming in fast. Gordon and I sampled the local lager from the Piddle brewery which was just average. The lunch was very nice, company was good and the view was great.

After lunch we drove east along the coast stopping to take in the view at Chesil Beach.

Hardy Monument

Then inland heading home we stopped at the Hardy Monument. This is a large “Spyglass” shaped monument built in 1844 in memory of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, Flag Captain of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.

We zoomed home through the narrow country roads stopping in Sherborne to pick up some steaks for dinner.

Somerset

Nick and Angie invited us to their place for a pre-dinner drink where we met Mandy’s other brother Hugo and his partner Lizzie. Rendel was a little tired after the trip and didn’t join us. Their house is just ten minutes away, but over the border in Somerset. We had a few champagnes and laughs before heading home where Rendel had the barbecue going. The steaks were great and after dinner we finished the day with a couple of scotches.