Shite holiday weather incoming. So disappointed.

[Miljea]

Poor WFH DH and uni year-in-industry DS1. Also WFH. And a drifting off-to-uni DS2.

Just, sadly, sorting out our holiday packing, now; packed yesterday in anticipation of a sunny holiday.

Lyme Regis, cottage (£850..). So sad to be taking so much 'sun' related stuff out, as it's pointless given that we have thick cloud, then an 'unexpected deep Atlantic Low' on Tuesday/Weds. Rain for the rest of the week.

I know it can't be helped but I'm so disappointed for everyone, as we were banking on this 'amazing summer' lasting for us. But there it is.

I know others are suffering far worse. But it looked so hopeful, so positive! I was getting my hopes up that we'd have a lovely, bright, sunny, life-affirming break from WFH 4 walls!

But nope.

I'm not looking for responses, I'm just so sorry for my family who have worked so hard, for so long - with this little chink of 'yay!

But the weather will be nasty.

I might stop moaning now.... 😂😂

@rollergirl11 recommendations very welcome, thanks! 😊

Had a nice cream tea at the Pilot Boat (?) pub earlier; menfolk are all at the micro brewery, in sitting by the sea in from of the marine theatre drinking a sneaky, well disguised glass or two of 🍷 😂😂

We walked to Uplyme today. We started off in the drizzle but when we got back to The Cobb, it was overcast but dry. But the prom was heaving! 😊

Now it's cloudy immediately over the coast but clearer out to sea.

There you go! Beautiful!

It is lovely.

I am aware that the forecast 'going forwards' 😊 isn't great, but I am regarding this evening as a bit of a gift.

@Miljea okay! The Millside Restaurant is absolutely the best place in town. In a lovely little courtyard location. Outstanding food and lovely staff. You’ll have to book in advance. We liked Pilot Boat too. Red Panda is a Thai cafe that serves yummy food during the day. We couldn’t get in as it was fully booked every night but heard Poco Pizza is very good. Also The Talbot Arms in Uplyme is a really cute pub with a lovely paddock with a stream running through it, nice for an early evening drink!

I’d recommend a day in Beer, a bit further along the coast in East Devon. Really pretty pebble beach that is also a working beach with fishing boats. Lovely little town with plenty of pubs and cafes serving cream tea.

Still looking at camping next week.
Was Googling what to do if you are camping in a thunderstorm.

Don't be in a tent is the basic answer.
Don't be in a field by yourself in a tent.
Lying down just give your more of a shock.

@chomalungama I took my DC to Latitude one year, camped right next to a huge telegraph pole so it was easy to find and there was the mother of all thunderstorms. I've never been so worried, I love lightening normally but not whilst sleeping in a camping bed with a metal surround lol. It was OK, quite the experience in the end.

Beach walks in the rain are awesome and hopefully the cottage will be lovely. Take some delicious food and enjoy the change of scene. :-)

@Miljea
That looks beautiful
How come I’ve never been to Lyme Regis?

I love the sound of the little fishing village too

I stopped in a lovely shop opposite the co op at the top of the hill the other week, it was called something like the Monmouth pantry. I stocked up on loads of delicious deli stuff, the olives were great but my god the cheese was divine - they did a Dorset blue vinny if you like blue cheese (I don’t but the rest of my holiday company do) and they said it was delicious.
Enjoy, Lyme in the bad weather is my favourite place to be, it’s quiet and atmospheric.

I do love good weather. But right now a change of scenery with the family, being together, no work, would be heaven.

Dorset blue vinny

Best cheese in the world! I live near the farm they make it on.
I've got a work meeting in Lyme tomorrow, I'm going to make a day of it now..

www.dorsetblue.com/

@Miljea

If you really want to fossil hunt, Charmouth is your best bet. It's only a few miles away, it's the little white clutch of buildings you can see if you look towards the cliffs on your left as you look out to sea. If you want to fossil hunt in Lyme, then the beach at the end of the eastern sea defences is your best bet, wander along until you meet the rocks that run out towards the sea. At this time of year you'll need to do this on the falling tide, or other people will get the decent stuff before you.

Restaurant-wise, Poco Pizza is indeed wonderful. You will need to book as it's mad popular and very small.

We have a holiday home in the town and we really love it. I get that you want sunshine, and I truly don't blame you because Lyme is at its best when it's sunny and warm (the colour of the sea is unbelievable). But in our experience, the bad weather passes through fast, and often even passes over completely.

@Dowser Have you really never been to Lyme? I thought you were a Dorset-loving sort

@Welcometothelifeboatparty
We are right over by shaftesbury, so maybe it was just a bit of a stretch too far
We e done wareham and swanage a couple of times, Poole loads, Bournemouth , bath a couple of times, Glastonbury, Salisbury and shaftesbury every time.
I usually catch up with other friends one day of our week
Monkey world, wookeyhole, Winchester, wells, Weymouth, Southampton all once
Dorchester a few times
The motor museum and the big annual show at shepton mallet , street and Clarke’s village many times

We stay with friends so we’ve done a couple of wedding, a funeral 😢, bbqs, etc

Was just thinking this morning, we would’ve been going down now for our last visit of the year ..haven’t seen my friend for a year now.
Sometimes we meet in Tenerife, but they want to go to different places , while I’m happy to go back to the same one.
They took a cruise last year and asked if we wanted to go but mr Dowser is a naval man and I think he’s had enough of the sea.

Love, love , love that part of the world so much and missed not going down in april

Ah I see. Take the road west, next time. You could add in a visit to River Cottage if you're feeling flush (alas, I'm really not ). The food and the experience are worth it, if you can take the hit to your pocket.

What I will say is they are getting the forecast even more wrong than normal at the moment!

It won’t rain the whole time and the sun will come out.

This is why are don’t like U.K. holidays though! Expectations need to be very low. Expect rain and be happy with anything else.

We got lucky last week up North but e forecast did keep insisting it would rain every day. It rained once on the last day.

We're in Scotland. It's very wet. We never usually have a UK holiday, and this reminds me why! We will make the best of it, but I'd rather be on the holiday we had planned in Europe.

Sympathy. To me summer holidays means being warm and hot I crave that to get me through the winter. Great if you enjoy grey beaches and wearing cagoules but some of us don’t. Yes parts of England are lovely but for me the weather is too unreliable. However needs must this year op just try and treat yourself it’s a change of scene at least.

Well, so far, so good.

Thanks for recommendations! Rainfall radar implied dodgy weather heading in from the west, so headed out at 10.

Drove over to Langton Woods and climbed Golden Cap today, a round trip via Stanton St Gabriel, bit cloudy overhead but no rain!

Then we drove towards Abottsbury, climbing up to the fort above it for the views over Chesil Beach and Portland. It was blowing a chilly hooley, and grey, but we got to see the eight cruise liners in Weymouth Bay.

We returned via the Bride valley (the Bredys), back via Morrisons in Bridport, as 2 of our dining out prebookings have failed us 🤔😳

However, it doesn't appear to have rained in LR today despite the apparent satellite evidence of incoming rain!

So, watching carefully....

I wouldn't count on it I live near there, it was supposed to be thunder storms all day here but we only had one hour of drizzle. The rest of the day was hot and sunny.
I went to Lyme Regis the other day for some sea air and went straight home again. There were literally thousands of people on the beach, you could hardly see an inch of beach, and the town was jammed, I didn't feel safe with covid at all. Rubbish everywhere.
It will be much better if it rains, people won't be crowding the beach (and all the beaches on that stretch of coast, I checked) and you will be able to go out even if its with a rain coat without being crowded in.
I'm not kidding, there was no way I'd even consider getting out of the car if it was packed like it was last week, there was not a spare inch on the beach.
If you want an empty beach experience drive to Porlock on the opposite coast for the day - it was hot and sunny last week and there was nobody on the beach. Its not that far for a day trip.

Op I feel your pain. I spent some time today sitting on a rainy beach in Devon. It then turned out that the cruise ship we were supposed to be going on our main holiday this year was in the same bay. So I didn't get my lovely Mediterranean sunshine and cocktails on the ship I just got to stare at it in the rain.
But, it is a holiday, and one I thought we would not get, and after having 3 holidays cancelled I'm going to enjoy it!

We were supposed to have thunderstorms in N Yorks yesterday.
We had some early morning rain and after that it was grey and warm and then the sun got out and we ate lunch on the caravan balcony.
It was hard to tear ourselves away to come home.
A beautiful evening and a glorious drive was had.
I’m so glad I didn’t insist we went home Sunday night.
I drove half an hour in the most terrifying of thunderstorms in June, where I couldn’t see the road in front of me.
I didn’t dare stop or turn off into the country roads , I literally just had to plough on.
I definitely didn’t want a repeat of that weather...but yesterday was nothing like that at all.

I'm down in that part of the world and the unreliable weather is not helpful with working out what you can do when a lot of attractions need to be prebooked. Plus I can't cope with indoors + masks so I've ended up bringing some beefy books to keep me entertained if DH takes the kids off to some indoor stuff that I can't cope with. (We booked before masks were a thing)

We're used to camping in the UK and due to the palaver over toileting, we're in a caravan instead. We're used to UK holidays and their element of "same shit, different location" but it is much more pressing after 5 months relentlessly in eachother's company... now squished into a small space with no let up

I'm a big girl, I have waterproofs, I can handle coastal walks in inclement weather... but I'm also at the mercy of a 7yo and 9yo who are many years past shoving in a buggy with raincovers while you crack on, and several years from being left at the site to crack on. Now we have to consider is it worth £100 for the family activities pass so the kids can have their first swim in 5 months, will they bail because the weather is grim at the time we booked (and they don't buy my logic that who cares when you're wet in the pool anyway!) and will they want to do anything else avaliable in the pass anyway (DS1 has ASD so that's a minefield in itself.

I'm sure we will have a good week and it's good not to be at the furthest point from the sea at home! But it's not as casual and relaxing as normal.

Argh, BOGOF, that sounds really tough. I remember that shenanigan. Drove us to a villa in Spain in the end!!

Another okay day in Lyme, walked from Beer to Branscombe. Nearly killed me but great views, tho you could see that it was raining further south on the coast, and inland!