When we were in Weymouth’s harbour area we spotted something in the distance, way back east and north, where we had been the day before but further inland.  How had we missed this?

The Osmington White Horse was carved into Osmington’s limestone hill in 1808, and shows King George III.  It boasts a regal splendour today, having been restored in 2012 for the Olympic Games when Weymouth and Portland hosted the sailing events.

Sat at the end of Weymouth’s Pleasure Pier is the Jurassic Skyline Tower.  It stands at 174 feet tall and on good days offers 16 mile views.  It has a glass gondolier, shaped like a donut, that slowly rotates as it rises and then descends.

I’m normally a sucker for towers, but this one was a slow-moving thing.  The gondolier was at the top and showed no sign of wanting to come down.  We on the other hand, were intending to get some mileage done today and were showing signs of wanting to move on, which is exactly what we did.  The rowing-boat ferry across the harbour was closed (a pity – I was looking forward to it), so we walked up to the Town Bridge.

Once on the south side of the harbour the South West Coast Path leads into Nothe Fort Gardens, providing some welcome relief from the urban landscape.  We were through Weymouth, and Portland beckoned.  I was looking forward to Portland but didn’t realise quite how much I was going to enjoy it.

Points on this part of the walk (copy and paste the co-ordinates into Google Earth)

• Osmington White Horse: N 50° 39.470 W 002° 24.270
  
• Jurassic Skyline Tower:  N 50° 36.610 W 002° 26.785
• Weymouth Town Bridge:  N 50° 36.430 W 002° 27.330
• Nothe Fort Gardens:  N 50° 36.430 W 002° 26.750

Walk #81 Statistics (of which this post forms the fifth part):

• Date of Walk: 9 June 2015
  
• Walk #81 total distance covered: 15.29 miles
• Coast of Britain Walk Total Distance Covered: 694.06 miles
• CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO INTERACTIVE MAP!!!