[South of Shaftesbury the gentle hills of Dorset go on and on. It was a pleasant afternoon drive. The next day proved to be very different. Photo is mine.]

I’ll huff and I”ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.

~~The Big Bad Wolf

The south coast of Dorset. The Jurassic Coast. The smugglers and the shepherds ruled the day here once upon a time. Thomas Hardy wrote novels based on this ancient region which he called Wessex. The sky can be as blue as velvet. The clouds can resemble frigates or dinosaurs. Down here, on the very coast where the pebbly Chesil Beach stretches for a dozen miles and fossil hunters scramble along the rocky cliffs, the wind can blow. Really blow. So hard does it blow that I was knocked off the curb not six hours ago and a half a mile from room 3 in the Haddon House Hotel.

I had a sleepless night which resulted in a day to rest and collect our thoughts. To watch it rain and listen to the gusts. We sat in a cafe just steps away from the breakwater. A young woman with auburn hair sat opposite, intently working her cellphone. She finished her coffee, slipped a rain fly over her heavy backpack and made for the door after pulling her Goretex over her shoulders. She headed into the gale. Ten minutes later, a not-so-young couple did the same. They were hikers on the Southwest Coast Path (made famous lately by the book and novel, The Salt Path).

I envied their stamina.

Soon Mariam and I were off to our car. I had to hold her to keep her from sailing away like Mary Poppins. This was the kind of weather that made me think of how TV stations at home covered major storms. Some poor news reporter was told to go out to some beach in New Jersey, wearing a Columbia Parka with the Channel Number emblazoned on the chest and, holding onto a parking meter and gripping his mic would yell into the camera how bloody awful it was out there in nature.

See for yourself:

[The pebble berms of Bridport beach. Turn the volume up. Video is mine.]

On a nearby park bench, I noticed these flowers. A note to someone hiking the Coast Path?

[Photo is mine.]

[Experiencing the winds seem to be a family outing. Photo is mine.]

For those readers of mine who enjoyed the series Broadchurch (BBC America. 3 Seasons. 2013) they will recognize the massive cliff that formed the centerpiece of the drama. Unfortunately, yesterday the fog made such a photo impossible for me.

[The Bridport Cliff. Source: Google search.]

Here I sit, at the white-painted vanity in our hotel room. The sky has cleared to the west. The rain has stopped, but the wind continues to buffet the window panes.