Friday July 10
This port originally wasn’t on the itinerary, but Princess
added it later. (nice to get a bonus port, usually the updates are to cancel
one) I had booked a small group tour with Dorset Tours - The Jurassic
Spectacular Inc Broadchurch | Dorset Tours Portland Cruise
Excursions | Guided Cruise Passenger Tours We did watch the series Broadchurch
and it would have been fun to see the town used in the series. (no biggie)
Much like in South America, the UK has quite a few small
group tours that the local companies set up which eliminates the need for me to
form a group. (good thing as our Cruise Critic Roll Call didn’t have many posts
and the few that were there were multi-generations of families traveling
together and no couples looking for any private tours.
About a week before the cruise, I got an email saying that
due to a van that wouldn’t be repaired in time, they had to cancel our tour.
So, I got to work looking for a replacement tour. I contacted another company
Dorset Tours dorsettoursportland@gmail.com and Darren was very responsive and does his tours in a VW
Micro-bus (with a better engine in his words). However, I needed to find 2
other couples to make it cost effective. I posted on the Roll Call, and no one
wanted it. It had all the stops of the first tour except Broadchurch. (again, no
biggie)
I ended up booking a big bus tour
through Get Your Guide. It saw most of the same sights, but a few were dropped
since that many people can’t see as much as a small group. They confirmed and
said we would need to take the shuttle to Portland Castle to get out of the
port and we would meet the tour there.
The night before we got a WhatsApp from
the guide telling us NOT to take the shuttle as they were now able to get into
the port area to pick us up. Andy, our guide, was waiting at the port gate and
said we were bus 1 and Tracy his wife would be there with a clipboard making
sure we were checked in and on the right bus. She directed us to bus 2. (this
will be important later)
Everyone else got the memo NOT to take
the shuttle except a mother and grown daughter that took the shuttle and then
waited to take it back to the port. The Andy tried his best to make sure the
group treated them with kindness after we waited more than 15 minutes for them.
(we all did) Both busses traveled in tandem to the sites and Andy took the more
rigorous version of the tour and Tracy took the easier routes when there was a
choice. (worked well)
Our first stop was Durdle Door which is
a famous limestone arch and cove on the Jurassic Coast. It was a nice hike
other than dodging the plethora of fresh cow patties. Durdle Door is one of the
many stops along the Jurassic Coast which got its’ name because it covers three
eras Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous rock formations make up the area and is
a fossil hotspot. Durdle Door was used in the final scene of the movie “Hail
Mary”.
Our next stop was Lulworth Cove, a beautiful
spot and we grabbed some ice cream as Andy said it used the milk from the local cows, and it was the best. He said we should have lunch at Corfe
Castle. We had a double chocolate orange that was awesome. When it was time to get back on the bus we went to bus 2 as that’s what
Tracy said when she pointed to our bus. So, we got on the wrong bus and were
salmon swimming upstream to get back out. She must have meant the second bus,
not bus 2, but we do as we are told. We finally get on the right bus when some
bitch stands up and turns to look at us and say loudly, “some people just don’t
know how to listen!” Yikes! I guess all the compassion was used on the 2 ladies
that took the shuttle. LOL
Next, we were on our way to Corfe
Castle, which is impressive ruins of a Norman castle in a picturesque village. It
was past lunch time, and we wanted to grab some lunch, but the tour was heading straight
to the Castle. We had to stay together as the guide had our tickets. (not individual but a group ticket) We asked
if we could just tour on our own later and Andy said no problem after checking with the guy taking tickets who said no problem. We grabbed a
quick sandwich and ate it on the steps to an old church. When we returned to
the Castle Andy was waiting for us to give his talk on the castle and how best
to see it before turning us loose for our free time. (everyone else was already
on their free time)
We finished touring the Castle and wandered
around the charming town and walked to the Swange Railway station, a vintage
steam train station. (we caught glimpses of the train from the Castle ruins) We
ran into Andy on our walk back as we were stopping to take a photo and he said,
“you found the postcard view of the castle from town”.
We had some time left so we visited the
old church.
Once the group gathered we made the
drive back to the port.
We had dinner in the dining room and
went to the show by Barajolka and she did some amazing sand art. (think of a
huge etch a sketch done by her hands and she would add on or change many times
before clearing and creating another scene. (all set to music) It was unusual
for sure!
Early to bed for our tour of Cornwall. I
wanted to make sure to have extra time as I truly couldn’t find Greg back at
breakfast this morning and was in a panic. Really dislike the layout of their
buffet.
Tomorrow, we are visiting Cornwall.
Web Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bUf7AfpTRB4TkYyKA
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