Saturday 16 April

Today we set off to Westbay and Bridport on the rather splendid X53 Jurassic Coast bus service. The journey is bumpy and at times tortuously slow uphill but the views are spectacular, especially around Abbotsbury. We sat upstairs on the last remaining pair of seats among what appeared to be a rather jovial Saga trip. Alison was delighted to be the youngest person aboard. We're sure that if the bus had to brake sharply a pile of false teeth would fly to the front and they'd have a great time sorting them out. 

Anyhow eventually we left the faint smell of lavender and the type of aftershave that has a picture of a ship on the bottle and alighted in the busyness of Westbay. We took a stroll under the cliffs, eroding at an alarming rate with some worryingly fresh falls and then back over the cliff top coastal path, sandwiched between eroding oblivion on one side and the mind numbing oblivion of the golf course on the other. We shared a chuckle as someone attired head to foot in designer golf apparel took several practice swings then immediately sliced the ball about 12 yards into the undergrowth. To his credit he maintained an air of nonchalance throughout. 

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An honourable mention in despatches today goes to The Custom House restaurant at Westbay who produced great fish and chips with terrific customer service. They've only been open 3 weeks and we wish them a fabulous season. 

We walked into Bridport, via a record shop with a gig on for Record Store Day. We declined the fizzy wine they offered (that bumpy bus ride back beckoned and we weren't sure it would be a good idea to fill up on bubbles) and Ray even managed to leave without purchasing anything. From appearances Bridport seemed a fine town but our bus was due so we didn't linger. 

On the return we were spared the Saga louts and apart from the hairy full throttle decent into Abbotsbury the journey was uneventful. However we did learn that an ex colleague of Ray's is staying on the same site with her and her husbands new motorhome Bessie so it looks like a drink is in order later. 

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