Tuesday 26th August - Weymouth


I left Porlock Weir worried that I did not have enough petrol to get to the nearest garage. There is a small filling station in the village but they only get a delivery once a month and if they run out there is nothing until the next delivery. It is odd that as we rely more on cars there are fewer filling stations (in cities they take up too much space and the land gets sold to property developers).

The quest for fuel takes me back to Minehead which is now bustling with holidaymakers and people on mobility scooters. There always seem to be lots of mobility scooters in seaside towns - think it is partly the wide flat pavements (good for pushchairs and wheelchairs as well). Here they seem to be fast scooterers and I feel my achilles tendon will be at risk if I lose concentration. Despite the gloomy weather people seem to be having a cheery time.

I then head west along the north Devon coast. I stop in Porlock and am glad to have missed yesterday's manic traffic. The narrow streets struggle to take two cars at a time, let along two coaches or caravans. Then on to Lynmouth and Lynton. Like Minehead it has an Edwardian feel with elegant houses and tall windows. Today it is packed with tourists, the poor weather has driven people from the beach to the shops and so the narrow streets and even more narrow roads and lots of fat cars trying to park.

Exmoor is looking beautiful and bleak - the clouds are below hill level, the wind driving the rain at an almost horizontal angle. Dogs are being cajoled out of cars, but are less keen to walk in this weather. In Ilfracombe all the boys are sitting on the street, smoking and drinking soft drinks (and throwing the empty cans onto the beach, where confused families wonder why it is now raining Coke cans). The girls are more productively engaged in a dance class in the arts centre.

Barnstaple's river front is looking rather battered, but the town itself is buzzing. School starts again next week so Clarks is fitting feet with new shoes, and new pencil cases and folders are bought in W H Smith and Ryman's. Then it is back across the other side of Exmoor, still beautiful but now more visible with improving weather.

As I pass Dorchester I see Poundbury. It has turned into a beautiful evening and the sun is low and casting a rosy glow over the buildings. They look somehow unreal, like a child's drawing of a town. I have heard about Poundbury and am intrigued to see it. I think it has been put forward as a template for a town for the future. The signs tell me they are now on Phase 2. There are pretty enough houses but it just seems like a housing estate. There are some shops but they are all closed. There are a few dogwalkers, but otherwise the streets are empty. This is a new, new town but it seems to have many of the issues of the older new towns. Perhaps if you design a living space around cars rather than people, it will always feel a little inhuman. Here the streets are wide, plenty of parking spaces but this leaves the houses a bit too far apart. This is probably me being grumpy, I expect there is no shortage of people who want to live here.

I am in Weymouth for the night. As I arrive it is getting dark and the seafront is lit up. There is a funfair and there seem to be plenty of young people around. I have missed the Olympic party of a few days ago. Weymouth will be the venue for the 2012 sailing events. I assume there will be lots of regeneration money coming this way. Tonight there is youth, out enjoying the funfair.

posted at 21:46 in /travel (permanent link)