4th July 2001

We are all a bit tired today: we had the loudest and most terrific thunderstorm we�ve ever known, amazing sheet and forked lightning and rumbles that shook the house and turned the electricity off. It started at 1am and continued till after 9am, going further away and returning to over our heads again. This morning there are rust droppings from the windows on all the ledges! We sat around till 10am then decided it was time to whinge, as we needed coffee or tea and hot water for a shower etc. John (the house factotum) came to our rescue and reset the trip switches.

We then fortified ourselves with mushroom omelette and bacon and then drove off to explore Lulworth, which has a castle, a beach, a cove and a deserted village! The castle was rigged up for tourists and the deserted village was being used for army manoeuvres with �no access� and �beware of gunfire� notices everywhere, so Andrew and I settled for the cove and beach where we bumped into Jackie Weeks and family who also live in Yardley Gobion! This is also a very pretty area with no tourists and some lovely rock formations with natural �doors� leading out to sea.

Carole, Peter and Nick went off to explore the Durdle Door, a cliff arch a mile away from Lulworth. They climbed a path over Dungy Head towards it, but were apparently then shrouded in mist, they gave up when some school kids told them that they wouldn't see a thing at the top and joined us at the cove for tea and cake.

We meandered awhile there, then adjourned to Tesco�s for some ingredients so that I could prepare Steak and Guinness pie with green pie and mash for tonight�s supper.

We are now all sitting around having had an evening stroll, still too full and drinking plum brandy procured at a little wine shop in Lulworth. Tomorrow we'll explore the delights of Weymouth!