Sumara of Weymouth

Reading time: Five miutes

16^th June 2024

Beaulieu – and it certainly is a good place

We decided to hide up the Beaulieu River for a few days while the strong westerly winds were blowing. It also happened to be The Round the Island Race at the weekend so we felt Cowes would be packed and, if we didn’t book ahead, then maybe Beaulieu wouldn’t have any space for us. So we splashed out and booked in for five whole days.

It wasn’t exactly cheap, but it was worth every penny. The place is idyllic!

Good Points

The setting at Bucklers hard is beautiful. At last, no more crass modern marina development architecture to insult our eyes.

The welcome was perfect with staff to take your lines or help you swing your boat around. Everyone was cheery and happy.

There is a very pleasant trail walk to Beaulieu of about 2 ½ miles. It looks like it would be wheelchair friendly too.

The showers are perfection! At last!!

There is a pop up outdoors bar with decent food on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Master Builders pub is a lovely old-fashioned pub just a few hundred yards away

There is an interesting maritime museum at Bucklers Hard

You can visit lord Montagu’s Motor Museum if you like cars – it has nice gardens too.

Bad Points

This could also be a good point but there is no mobile phone reception. We walked into Beaulieu Town to receive an important call, but there was no reception there either. Rather unusual for this day and age. Maybe the preserved nature of the area does not allow mobile masts

Where have the donkeys gone? I was rather looking forward to seeing them roam Beaulieu’s streets but there were none to be seen. Maybe we were just unlucky.

Tilman’s Comments

I have been asked to add a section to describe how our dog liked each stop-over. So this is your fault Louise!

Woof- Pretty damn good, with loads of grass and walks in the trees but lots of signs saying “Dogs Must Be Kept on a Lead” so zero ball games. It might be because birds are nesting but I only chase rabbits, totally not fair!

Price per night for a visiting 8 m boat

£42.00 but I would prefer to pay £42.00 for a heavenly spot rather than £36.00 for a hell-hole.

The northerly westerly wind kicked in as promised, so we set off for the lovely seaside town of Swanage 25 nm away. It makes a perfect halfway break for the trip to Weymouth so I am always surprised that hardly anyone ever goes there. The trip took a pleasant 7 hours with a favourable tide.

Swanage

As a child we went on holiday to Swanage every year for at least five years, staying in the Coast Guards Cottages. I have many happy childhood memories of the place. We rarely ventured into town preferring to lie on the beach and swim by the cottage. We strolled out to see the cottages and found that the stony beach that I remembered seems to have been washed away. Not to worry, there is a large sandy beach nearer the town and a smaller dog friendly beach by the sailing club.

Good Points

Sheltered from the westerly wind, the bay provides an ideal place for an over night stay.

You can anchor or pick up a visitor’s buoy. There are 12 of them laid by the Swanage Sailing Club. We picked up P7 with strange ribs on it!

Swanage is a lovely seaside town

Large sandy beaches

You can walk the cliffs to see Tilly Whim caves (although we didn’t do that this year)

Bad Points

Don’t try this in an easterly gale

If the water taxi isn’t running, you will need to pump up the dinghy

Er, that’s it.

Tilman’s Opinion

Woof. For some reason dogs aren’t allowed on most beaches in the summer, but there was a small beach where they appreciate our sense of fun. Sadly, the dinghy was deflated in the evening ready for a prompt getaway, completely forgetting that I need my morning walk for a pee. Amazingly, my bladder held out all the way to Weymouth!

Price per night for 8 m yacht

£10.00 for the buoy to Swanage Sailing Club

I could have happily stayed in Swanage for another day, but these Northerlies are rare along the English Channel so the opportunity to sail was too strong to be denied. We dropped the buoy at 06:47 and headed off for the 24 nm to Weymouth.