Jen’s birthday began with a brisk and invigorating walk through the village.  We then had possibly the best breakfast of the trip so far: exotic mueslis, preserved fruits, and the most impeccably prepared and presented cooked breakfast imaginable. In a word, delicious.  We had to linger for a while over that of course, but then it was off to The Tank Museum at Bovington!  

I had seen footage from inside this place in many a documentary about WW2, and it was great to see it all in the flesh. They had one of the very first tanks, which resembled iron water tanks giving what had been officially known as ‘landships’ their enduring name.  Then it was basically tanks through the decades.  They have a great Tiger, and a very impressive King Tiger, plus virtually every other tank you can think of except the current US main battle tank, the Abrams 2.  They have the British current tank, the Challenger 2.  

They also had a very good mock-up of the trenches in WW1, complete with a dug-out with an officer trying to get orders, and a very frightened looking German soldier seeing a tank loom above him for the very first time.  No wonder they were panicked by it.  A good display was a cut-away of a tank, basically a full sized tank cut right down the centre so you can walk in between and see the soldiers inside performing their various tasks.  It was a very good visit, and we must have spent five hours poking around in there.  

Then we hopped in the car and made for The Durdle Door, a natural arch in the coastal limestone just west of West Lulworth.  There were quite a few people down there and we had a walk up and down the beach next to it.  Some guys were jumping from the rocks in the door.  After a while we climbed back up to the car and mosied back to Bindon Bottom.  

The co-owner, an Australian from Epping and Manly who had lived in the UK for ten years, recommended a restaurant called ‘Limestone’ a couple of doors up for our special dinner, for Jen’s birthday.  We decided to give it a go, and it didn’t disappoint. We started with a nice drink on the terrace, and after a while went into the dining room and ordered.  Delicious french food.  I had the surf and turf and Jen had the lamb. It was a great night.

The Tank Museum Wiki    The Durdle Door Wiki