Goodness Grays!

When driving south from London to Swanage, one can take a long road around the inland coast, or take a short cut by ferry from Sandbanks to Studland. This latter route was the one my SatNav chose and it came as quite a shock to find ourselves in a queue to board a ferry. Thankfully it was just a five-minute trip on a rope ferry on what appeared to be a popular route for cars, bikes, and pedestrians alike. So, the next day we decided to head back this way for a day out.

It was a gorgeous blue day but still a little chilly when catching the sea breezes. In the photo below you can just about make out Brownsea Castle on Brownsea Island. That was to be our destination after taking the ferry to Sandbacks, but the ferry from Sandbacks to Brownsea Island was not in service. Instead, we walked more than our required 10,000 steps exploring Sandbanks beach, stopping at the Jazz Cafe for a late lunch, then returning along the Poole harbour side of Sandbanks.

The photos below show views from Studland before catching the ferry to Sandbanks. This is National Trust property (Studland and Godingston Heath National Nature Reserve) and has a glorious sandy beach which goes on for miles.

After arriving in Sandbanks, we walked inland behind the hotel and along Bank Rd before taking a walkway to the beach. I was told that this beach would be heaving with people in the summertime, but today we had it almost to ourselves, with the exception of the life guards and dog walkers.

The beach houses here must surely be some of the most expensive properties in the UK. All were far enough back from the sea so hopefully have little chance of flooding. But as we walked further along the coastline, the housing changed to what looked like a modern version of the beach hut. The Jazz Cafe was still a little further on and we discovered we were not the only diners there. This seagull helped himself to chips and followed this up with dipping his tongue into the mayonnaise.

After lunch, we walked back along Banks Rd and noticed how flat this area is as the tide was out and 'beach' seemed to go out forever. We saw people collecting what we assumed were cockles in their plastic buckets, watched small schools of tiny fish dart around in the shallows producing their own ripple patterns in the sea, and took notice of the backside of the enormous properties we had been admiring from the beach. Then we turned down Panorama Rd to see the even more expensive, but too hidden, properties along the way back to the ferry. All in all, a lovely day out!