The last cat sitting that we agreed to while in the UK was for two lovely cats, Jess and Tabs, owned by Patricia and Chris. They live in Parkstone which is a suburb of Poole. We learned that as the strike days for the train were scheduled for the day before and the day after, there might be changes to the schedule on the day in between which is when we were traveling. Fortunately, we found that even though some others were cancelled or delayed, ours was only a few minutes late. We were glad as Patricia had offered to pick us up at the train station so we could meet them, the cats and get a tour of the house before they left on their vacation. Always a nice bonus for us all to meet each other in person and not just on video calls.
We had been told that Jess would make friends with us quickly which was indeed true, but Tabs was a little distant at first, but after a couple of days she was more than willing for a scratch or a cuddle. They actually have a cat door with a microchip so that
only their cats in and out – really a nice feature and made it much easier for us with them being able and go as they please – a nice bonus!
We found that we could travel to neighboring towns from here easily by bus, so definitely took advantage of that fact. Knowing we were in a suburb of Poole; we knew we had to get to Poole itself. It was not the best of days as it was definitely overcast and cooler yet by the coast, but glad we went. We didnt have any real plans except for wandering around, however, I had read that they did have a few different boats that took people out on various trips around the harbor or along the coast. As we havent been out on the water for a while, we decided seeing the coastline from the water would work out well so booked a trip to see the Jurassic Coast. For those of you that havent heard of the Jurassic Coast it is actually listed as a World Heritage Site. It is a coastline running from Exmouth to Studland on the south coast of the
UK. It is called the Jurassic Coast due to the cliffs that contain fossils from that time period million years ago). There are walks along the clifftops that you can take which we had contemplated, but decided that with the limited time we have in the area we wanted to visit a few other towns so doing this part of the coast by water was a good alternative.
The skies were quite grey and the mist was thick in some areas, but it actually added to the alure of the coastline with its stunning white cliffs made of limestone (chalk) and sandstone. The two- hour boat tour takes you out of Poole harbor and makes a short stop at the village of Swanage. We did not book the tour that allowed us to get off in Swanage, but some did so they could visit the village and return on another boat OR start the walk along the clifftops (hopefully you can see some of the people walking on top in some of the photos). It was definitely a chilly day and we didnt dress appropriately so a hike would have been a good way to warm up, but
as we hadnt researched the walking trail and how long it would take, we didnt partake of that activity. I was hoping to plan another bus trip to a mining museum near Swanage so thought we could do some of the hike that day. Unfortunately, we found that the museum has closed so didnt make it back to this area. Im sure the hike is a wonderful one, but we thoroughly enjoyed being on the water and seeing the full height of the cliffs as we motored by. One of the more famous formations that we went past is called Old Harry Rocks which are actually chalk formations that include a stack and a stump. The story goes that the tall stack by itself is Old Harry but there had been another stack which was called Old Harrys Wife, but in 1896 she tumbled into the sea and you only see the stump that remains. When I looked up the name Old Harry, I found that they say it is a British English informal name for Satan.
