Out and about in Dorset

I thought that I would take a break from the gardening stuff, and do a brief bit about Sunday just gone. As some of you may have noticed, there is a picture of my blue machine on the right of the blog, a 1200cc Triumph Trophy that A bought me for my 40th birthday to cheer me up, as I am a biker at heart but hadn't owned one for a few years and was starting to get that middle aged 'won't get to do that again' feeling. It certainly worked, but it took me a few hours to stop shaking with surprise before I could take it for it's maiden spin.

The motorbike has been sat around for a while, not getting the airing that it deserves, and so it was time to wash it and make it sparkle again, refuel it, and fire her up! Started like a dream and after gunning her around the local roads to check brakes, tyres and suspension etc, grabbed A and we set off for a ride around Poole Harbour for the day.

The Upton Bypass.....a bikers dream to start the journey......and all the cobwebs quickly blew away. Then turned off after a few miles to head into Wareham. There is a tiny church here where only a few people know that Lawrence of Arabia is buried inside. You have to get the ancient key to the church from the owner of the local shop to gain entrance....all very strange!

The River Frome flows through the edge of the town and it's here, at The Granary, where we stopped for a cool drink on the upper terrace overlooking the river. The river is only waist deep, but it didn't seem to stop some local idiots from jumping of the bridge into it, some doing somersaults. The Granary is the place in the oicture above, and the view from where we sat is in the one below.

From here, it's a lovely meandering country ride to Corfe Castle, which I have mentioned in a previous post, and a left turn then takes you onto the road to Studland. Along this route are a few places to stop and enjoy the view, the best being the one below of Poole Harbour itself.

We arrived at Studland and parked the bike up, then strolled down to the beach, grabbing another cold drink from the small beach cafe. The day was very hot, and whenever the fan kicked in on the motorbike, a blast of hot air wafts up and warms up the driver even more!

To the right of us were Old Harry Rocks, those white lumps in the picci above, and to the left is Studland Bay. Past that but out of sight is Shell Bay and Sandbanks so plenty of beach here.

We had a glorious walk along the whole beach, dipping our feet in the water to stay cool...aahhhh...lovely!

Then it was time to head back home as it was by now getting quite late. Just a quick, but very important point here, always keep an eye on your pillion passenger during long rides. Once whilst taking a ride through the New Forest, we had been going for about an hour, cruising along and occasionally sloping to the left, and sometimes to the right, and everything at around 80mph. A tight corner came up and the brakes had to be applied somewhat hard to say the least and I had As crash helmeted head whack me. The journey had been so comfortable and peaceful that she had fallen asleep on the back of the bike. She woke up at that point though! TTFN