For this trip we recruited two friends to join us - Wai and Jade.
Our journey began from London Waterloo station early on a Saturday morning. The train journey took almost 3 hours and as there was little air-conditioning in the carriages, by the time we arrived at Weymouth close to lunchtime we were seeking fresh air and an outlet to fill our stomachs.
Welcome to Weymouth
Walking around we discovered that not only did this town have a lot of seafood - but the best birthday present that Olie could want - a real sandy beach.
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| Happy birthday Olie |
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| Wai and Jade |
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| Hanging out with the lobster mascot |
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| A sandy beach at last |
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| A Punch & Judy show entertaining the kids |
Bed and Breakfast
Our accommodation for this trip was a small Bed and Breakfast hotel that was perfectly located by the seaside, a short walk from the railway station and also the harbour where all the seafood festival stands were located.
Weymouth Town
The township of Weymouth has been mentioned in history a number of times. The town has buildings dating back to Tudor times and in modern times it was the location of the 2012 Olympic sailing competition. However over the centuries, Weymouth has gained famed as the entry point of the Black Death to England in 1348 from France; as a launch point for the D-day invasion of Normandy during WWII and also was a site of an English Civil War battle - with one old building still decorated with a cannon ball.
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| And in 1348, along came the Black Death |
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| Anyone missing a cannon ball? |
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| House dating back to Tudor England, c1600s |
Seafood Festival kicks off
The first stop on our gastronomic tour involved a small serving of grilled king prawns and scallops.
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| Grilled king prawns |
The next stand offered something better - deep fried whitebait and tempura prawns; simply delicious. As we ventured further towards the heart of the Harbour, we were tempted by yet more food including paella, crab salad and oysters.
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| Whitebait and tempura prawns |
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| Paella with 2 fat lobsters |
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| Yummy oysters |
After a short rest-break back at the hotel, we headed back to the town to try, drank some more Pimms and tried to find somewhere for dinner but were unsuccessful with all the rated places on Tripadvisor as they were full for the night.
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| Trying not to spill any of the drink |
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| More Pimms |
Hotel Rex
We eventually ended up at a small boutique hotel - Hotel Rex. The decor may have dated back to the 1950's, but the place offered a value-for-money set menu, provided complementary cake for Olie in celebration of his birthday and left off a bottle of wine we had ordered from the bill.
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| Smoked mackerel, salmon and prawns |
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| Duck with cherries |
2p slots
Later that night, after successfully spotting crabs along the shoreline, we found ourselves addicted to one of the 'cheapest' forms of entertainment offered at many seaside towns - 2p slots. The objective of this game is to pile up the 2p coins so that they 'push' a number of prizes (key rings, toys) into a slot that you collect. We were quite successful that night, bringing home 2 key rings and an eraser.
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| So much fun - 2p slots |
Full English Breakfast
The next day we enjoyed a tasty full English breakfast at our hotel before returning to the food festival for more tasty treats - fried scallops, razor clams and dressed crab.
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| Picture perfect Weymouth Harbour |
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| The nutritional start to the day - Full English |
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| Scallops on cous cous |
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| Razor clams on the grill |
Jurassic Coast Cruise
We boarded a local cruise boat for a trip along the World Heritage Listed Jurassic coastline that is famed for its many fossils and also the oil that visibly leaks from the cliffs.
Crabbing
After returning from the cruise, we decided that another activity was needed to fill time before our train back to London that evening. We noticed a number of tourists had started crab fishing along the harbour walls. We decided to buy a crab line and net, some bait (we were recommended to use smoked bacon) and bucket. Positioning ourselves near the old military fort, in just 10 minutes of dropping our line, we were pulling up some small crabs. Overall we caught just under a dozen - some thrown back immediately because they were small, and one that drew blood from Wai as it clipped her with a claw.
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| Our crabs are free |
Our bucket of crabs drew a bit of a crowd of on-lookers but then it was time to head back to London and all the crustaceans were released back to the ocean to live another day; and we headed to the pub for a traditional serve of fish and chips.
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| Cod and chips - beats a frozen flake any day |
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