Woolly says – We’d had a quiet start to the year with lots of walks for Alfie the Dog and very little in the way of blogging opportunities, as we started to gear up for the working part of the year it seemed like a good idea to head south for a few days and see how Nanty Carys and Nuncle Les were doing. We had arrived late on the Friday evening with daughter Zoe and spent several hours catching up in their warm cosy home.
Saturday dawned with a weak sunshine poking through the clouds and the opportunity of visiting a beach which is always a winner with the panting beast. We drove the short distance to Bournemouth and as Jo prized the car into the tiny car parking space available, I took in my surroundings. Bournemouth is a coastal resort town on the south coast of England. Before it was founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, the area was a deserted heathland occasionally visited by fishermen and smugglers. Initially marketed as a health resort, the town received a boost when it appeared in Augustus Granville’s 1841 book, The Spas of England and like many coastal towns its growth accelerated with the arrival of the railway from 1870.
We headed onto the golden sands allowing the mutt to race after the gulls and chase the waves, I was far more fascinated by the rainbow hues of the beach huts. Also known as a beach cabin, beach box or bathing box these handy wooden boxes provide shelter from the sun or wind, as well as privacy for changing into and out of swimming attire and for the safe storage of some personal belongings. These were in a class of their own however and as I tried to work out which was my favourite colour from the vast colour palate Alfie the Dog sniffed his way around each and every one of them.
Next to the huts was the remains of the East Cliff Railway or East Cliff Lift, a funicular railway which had been constructed and opened in 1908. It was electrically operated from the start, with winding gear situated at the upper station driven by a 25 horsepower (19 kW) winding motor. The line was controlled by a driver at the upper station, assisted by an attendant at the lower station.
On 24th April 2016 the lift was damaged by a landslip which occurred when the sandstone layers within the cliff on which the lift rests became saturated with water. The cars were removed from the track by crane on 21st May 2016 the water. The decision was taken to dismantle the building. The lift has remained closed since the landslip with no firm plans too re-open it.
Having taken our fill of the beach we headed onto the pier, the first pier in Bournemouth consisted of a short wooden jetty that was completed in 1856. This was replaced by a longer, wooden pier five years later, and a cast-iron structure in 1880. Two extensions to the pier in 1894 and 1905, brought the total length to 305 metres (1,001 feet). After World War II, the structure was strengthened to allow for the addition of a Pier Theatre, finally constructed in 1960. This survived until the 2000s when it was turned into a climbing adventure centre. Between 1979 and 1981, a £1.7 million redevelopment programme, saw a great deal of reconstruction work, and the addition of a large two-storey, octagonal-shaped entrance building.
It gave us a wonderful view of the town although the women found the surfers much more interesting to watch as they desperately tried to get off the beach and into deeper water allowing them to surf back to shore, the barking boy seemed fascinated with the choppy sea below our paws which he could see through the gaps in the pier’s planks.
Sporting our new wind-blown look, we walked back towards the town and into the beautiful gardens. A wonderful display of memorial pictures lined the underpass dedicated to those that had lost their live to Aids in the early 1980’s when the terrible disease had ripped it’s way through communities. It was touching to read the words written by the families who had lost a loved one and to admire the huge variety of artwork on display.
The Lower, Central and Upper Gardens are Grade II public parks, leading for several miles down the valley of the River Bourne, it proved a lovely walk with many commemorative plagues and plenty of places to pause in the shade.
The town’s war memorial had two stone lions guarding its steps, installed in 1921 it made for a very impressive piece to reminder those that had lost their lives.
Having paused for a break and some hot drinks I decided it was time for an activity that my small companion would like.
Woolly says – As my carer led the way into a fenced off area, I could barely contain myself as I realised that the battle of crazy golf was about to commence, I would of course be kind to the females but the chances of them beating my putting ability was unlikely.
It was a lovely way to finish the day and as we released the mutt onto the sand for a last race around, we all agreed that Bournemouth was an excellent place and that next time we visited we would head further into the town to check out some more of the architecture.