63.5 miles so far

On Sunday, Little Miss M and I added 2.7 miles to our target of 500 miles.

The weather has been relentlessly wet and windy since I returned from Egypt on the 5th March, so it was a relief that the sun was shining at last. But still so windy!

We parked near Kingston and walked through the woods towards the sea

Little Miss M often likes to run ahead, and found a hill that she and her siblings wanted to roll down – but it was a bit steep for that! So on we went

pushing on against the wind

to be rewarded with gorgeous views towards the Isle of Portland

and a brief stop to taste some gorse flowers, in the summer they taste like coconut – not much taste on this cold and windy March day

but the colour! That yellow just glows in the sunshine.

All the colours looked crisp and clear after the weeks of rain we have had.

Click on any photo to see it full screen.

We were battered by the wind, but did our best to stop and breathe in the colours and the elements and the sheer joy of being in such a beautiful place.

We did not go right to the end, there have been a few scary cliff falls along the coast recently especially further west at West Bay, when this happened on 15 March.

Looking East over the dry stone walls, one could catch the sound of larks singing – extraordinary delicate silver tinkling amidst the bluster of the wind.

Larks say “Summer is a-coming” to me like no other bird does and remind me of hot sunny days lying on Dorset hill tops looking up into the sky trying to see their little bodies on the wing, dark against a clear blue sky.

No lying on hilltops on Sunday though – we turned back

and this time noticed Encombe House in the valley, much of it is hidden by the trees, but can you see the pavilion looking out onto the lake with a little white boat on it?

If you would like to know more about the history of Encombe House, click on this link.

We headed for the pub and a hot chocolate

but not before gathering some wild garlic so that my daughter could try a new Salsa Verde recipe.

In the woods Little Miss M also wanted to gather some moss and ivy and as many different leaves as she could find to take to school.

My son ( the running one) had told me about a new App that records walks and runs – so I tried it out for the first time – I haven’t quite mastered adding the photos properly, but it is a fun free App called Relive – here is our walk:

https://www.relive.cc/view/rt10004021559

The App seemed to run my battery down very quickly so I had to turn it off before we made it to the pub. My son recorded his 46 mile run around Bristol – (yes! that is not a typo – 46 miles!!!!) a couple of weekends ago, so there must be something wrong with my phone.

We went to the Scott Arms where you can sit in the garden as gaze across at Corfe Castle – what a view!

Do click on this picture and see it bigger – we could see for miles.

Little Miss M was thrilled that she could look through the telescope and ran to tell me that she could see a person in a red jacket walking around at Corfe Castle

There is a footpath, part of the Hardy Way, that goes from Kingston to Corfe Castle and we all decided we would like to walk it on a warm summer’s day.