A weekend of travelling

Last Thursday I journeyed to Portsmouth to meet up with (townie) husband and then on to Heathrow with our daughter Rosie to catch her flight to Sydney as she embarks on her big Aussie gap year adventure.

As I drove I was struck by the beauty and variety of the landscape around me. At first the ground was all crumpled and creased into hills and valleys, almost as though a giant fist had scrumpled the ground like a piece of paper. Then my little car seemed to climb and climb towards Dorchester as we came out on top of the world with the looming bulk of Maiden Castle on the right. And all the time the sea in the distance, the great curve of Lyme Bay sweeping away down towards Exmouth and back home.

Sadly the landscape near Heathrow is very different. Instead of hazel catkins and gorse blossom, the hedgerows were coloured by discarded plastic bags and other rubbish. Then the blight of endless industrial estates and pylons - I know we need these things, but why does utility always seem to have to be ugly? Rosie caught her flight alright, and has since sent us a text to say Sydney is "awesome" so I guess she's having a good time.

Although I don't have any up-to-date photos of the dogs swimming, I took my camera out with me today and got a good shot of the two of them on the beach. I was so cruel, I made them sit and stay for oh - must have been at least 30 seconds while I took their photo. Hope you like it - Ben is on the left and you can see is poised for flight. They might not seem very big, but you are looking at 20 stone of dog - and at the end of our walk - 20 stone of wet, sandy, happy dog!!