The Third Column

What's over the top? This is what Hermes and Debbie asked when I showed this photo on 'Pictures Just Pictures'.

. . . This is what you see when you come over the brow on this stretch of path.

Portland Harbour - where the sailing events for the 2012 Olympics will be taking place - and Portland in the distance.





Not that I recommend you take your eye off the path, or you'll be tumbling down here.



Over and over, people make new paths as the old ones crumble away;

higher, then higher . . .

So that's what I do now - take the higher path, in case that next edge is ready to tip.

There are lots of little coves below; each one protected from the waves by boulders. They loop in and out like a lace edging.


Gorse burns - and there's a lot of gorse round here. This fire was recent; the smell of burning so strong it may still have been smoldering. On the way back, I met women bringing buckets of water to put out a smaller fire before it spread.

This is another photo from Pictures Just Pictures, 'Rusted Rails Near Ferrybridge'. This is where the path I was on meets with the route of the old line to Portland. When I first walked here, the tracks had been lifted but there was nothing but broken stone under foot. It has a tarmac surface now and lots of people walk or cycle in and out of town along it. Great! Except I feel a bit churlish. It was nice to be here when hardly anyone else was!

This is the Causeway to Portland. I'll show you what it's like to walk along there sometime . . . coastal plants and all!