Studland

BB wanted to go to the beach today, and it was another glorious day we decided to head to Studland – a bit of the coastline owned by the National Trust (having been owned by the Banks family of Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy).  It was quite a drive, so we packed a picnic and set off in good time.  We followed the same route as we did to Corfe Castle yesterday, but not far from Wareham we joined a traffic jam, with police cars and ambulances struggling to get by.  I had a look at the map, and could see that there was an alternative route – though probably an unclassified road.  TT (who was driving) hummed and hawed, and at the last possible moment, decided we would give it a try.  It all went well for a while, until we started to meet traffic coming in the opposite direction.  We were on a single track road with passing places, so it most definitely didn’t have the capacity for lots of traffic.  The traffic coming towards us was unrelentless and not just cars, big trucks, a bin lorry, a petrol tanker -  the curse of satnav! 

We were astounded at the amount of traffic and by the types of vehicles we were meeting.  We made very slow progress, and then we were held up further by horses on the road.  We had a few very hairy points where we weren’t sure we were going to get by various huge vehicles, but we did and eventually we emerged at the other end of the traffic jam and continued on to Studland. 

Once we got there, we couldn’t believe the numbers of cars in the car parks, and the number of people on the beaches.  We walked quite far to find a quieter area.

We were starving by the time we found out spot.  BB had a great time playing on the beach and in the sea.  I read my book and TT snoozed.  Having arrived later than we had intended, we stayed later than we would have, but at least by the time we left it was quieter as many people had already headed home and the tide had gone out, so the beach was much bigger.  We came home via Swanage.

Here is  BB playing in the sea at Studland Bay.