Beach Motocross

Sunday 14th October.

Today's post is written by Ian, who is a fan of motor sports, rather than me, who isn't!

Over a beautiful October weekend Weymouth played host to the annual beach Motocross event. This event which is organised by the Weymouth and Portland Lions Club and the Purbeck Motorcycle Club attracts over 250 top riders from all over England.

On Sunday afternoon, I followed my ears as they led me to the beach where the races were already in progress. A stretch of about a quarter of a mile of Weymouth’s sandy beach at low tide had been converted into a about a mile long Motocross course with a long straight along the waterside with the rest of the circuit comprising turns, 'Bomb Holes', 'Dare Devil' jumps and some chicanes.

Six races were run in the categories of Expert, Senior and Junior (15+) and several top women riders took part – although it was impossible to tell this when they were in all their protective gear. The bikers' leathers and helmets were in all colours which made the sight of the bikes queuing to take their places at the start a colourful affair. The noise of the racing hit you like a wall of sound and there were some fantastic sights as the bikes set off from the start line along the fast straight where the bigger 500cc bikes can hit 90 mph. There were plenty of thrills and a few spills – but no serious injuries thank goodness.

The seafront promenade was packed with the estimated 15,000 people watching and it was a fabulous experience. There was also a beer festival over the weekend – but I passed on that – for this year anyway.

A trip to Bridport, Osmington Mills and the Smugglers Inn

Saturday 23rd September dawned clear and bright with the promise of a fine day. With a forecast of heavy rain and gales for the next few days we grabbed our chance to make the most of the fine weather and went out for the day.

A trip along the coast road to Bridport saw us browsing the Saturday flea market there followed by a sandwich lunch sitting on a bench in the community orchard behind the pretty parish church.The market, marking out the T-shape of the main streets - South, East and West streets - is an eclectic mix of tools and gadgets, jewellery and clothes, cutlery and furniture, along with the more usual 'modern' market stalls selling slippers, tea towels and fresh produce. There are a few independent shops here, including a lovely lighting shop and a good old-fashioned hardware store, as well as some of the more common market-town shops.

On the way back we stopped to admire the view across Abbotsbury swannery and along Chesil beach towards Portland then drove down a long windy lane to the Moonfleet Manor Hotel and Restaurant. Always on the lookout for a good place to eat I asked to see the menu. At £49.95 for a three-course a la carte meal for non-residents I doubt we’ll be eating there too often!

A quick stop at home and then out again to Osmington Mills, seven miles by road east along the coast. This is down another very long and windy lane to the coast where the infamous ‘Smugglers Inn’ is based. At one time it was originally known as the Crown Inn and was home to the leader of one of the most notorious gang of smugglers. He apparently imported brandy that was so disgusting that none of the locals would drink it! In the 1920s to 70s it was known as the Picnic Inn, presumably so-named to attract the charabanc trade on day trips from Weymouth and Dorchester.

Later, in another wise marketing move, it was renamed the Smugglers Inn and the pub, now owned by the Hall and Woodhouse chain, still attracts holidaymakers and is busy all year round with walkers as the South West Coast Path runs through its garden.

After sampling some of the guest beer, we set off for a short walk down the path for a mile or so to Ringstead.

There we walked down to the beach and watched a cormorant fishing, a lady learning to paddle a canoe and a group of three young women setting out what would probably be a rather chilly late afternoon picnic.

Jetskis, powerboats, barrels.. and food

Sunday 16th September was an eventful day for several reasons; not all of them good. Around midday we set off towards Weymouth Pavilion where the Wessex Food Festival was taking place. Along the way we passed the tall ship Pelican of London which will soon be heading off on a journey to the Antarctic as the support ship for modern-day explorer Tim Jarvis’s attempted re-enactment of Ernest Shackleton’s epic journey across ice and mountains for help. See here for more details. Next along the harbour were moored the maritime equivalent of Formula 1 cars; high speed power boats gathered for the afternoon's P1 Superstock championships final race of the season.

In the Pavilion we squeezed our way into the already packed room filled with purveyors of Dorset apple cake and cider, buns, pies and cakes of all kinds, cheese and wine, beer and pickles, sweets and treats and few gadgets, too. We even saw a kitchen designer who we invited to come and give a quote on replacing our kitchen. For lunch I selected a rather unusual heart-shaped vegetarian patty made of grated beetroot and carrots and some other ingredients I can’t remember now. It was very tasty. Ian had rather scrummy-looking sausage roll and a cherry tart. We went outside to eat these and watched jet-ski racers competing in the final of the P1 AquaX Championship being held a little while before the aforementioned Superstock race. Whilst they were getting into place on the course (marked with buoys) in Weymouth Bay a jet-ski stunt rider entertained us with some very daring manoeuvres, including a complete mid-air 360-degree flip.

After lunch we walked into the town centre to do a bit of shopping. A little later, realising that the Powerboat race that he was keen to see had just started Ian went back to the Pavilion and I stayed on and browsed for a while. About 15 minutes later I headed off to join Ian and near the Pavilion it became apparent that something bad had happened, as the local air ambulance had landed on the beach and another helicopter was hovering nearby. Unfortunately, one of the powerboats in the race had hit the wake of another boat and flipped over, tipping out its two occupants at high speed. I’m glad I (or Ian) wasn’t there to see it actually happen. Sadly, the driver later died in hospital but the navigator has made a very good recovery and was discharged on 24th September. A sad end to a memorable sporting summer for Weymouth.

After another visit to the food fair to pick up a bottle of local beer (Corfe Gloriette from the Corfe Castle Brewery), we set off home but were distracted by yet another event on the far side of the harbour. We’d seen some strangely dressed people in open-topped decorated cars and vans had assumed that they were perhaps on a stag or hen do, but when we got over the town bridge we discovered that this was the end of the last leg of the third Dartmoor Barrel Challenge, supporting the MV Freedom (the disability-adapted boat that brought the Paralympic flame to Weymouth) and Help for Heroes.

You would think from looking at these pictures that everyone was dressed as pirates, but there was quite a variety of outfits. See more here. Never a dull moment in Weymouth, that’s for sure.