Dorset cycling- Hardy Monument-Upwey loop

I've cycled this route many, many times in all weathers and I never tire of it.
Beginning at a lay-by below Hardys monument you fairly whizz along the first part, a chalk ridge lined with the barrows of our Iron Age forebears who picked a pretty neat spot with far views over the whole of Weymouth Bay.

This where I usually partake of coffee and cake perched atop one of their barrows, the occupants never complain.
Reaching the road a right turn carries you on an exhilarating ride downhill to the outskirts of Upwey and its wishing well. Should more cake be required a tearoom is a little further on in the actual village; otherwise a gentle lane carries you past the premises of the renowned Baking Birds, two friends who have established an award winning bakery here...so should you require even more cake...

Eventually a bridleway leads you through open fields past a lonely abandoned farmhouse with the the Hardy monument once again on the horizon. Then a gentle but (to me) exhausting uphill cycle brings you back once again to the lay-by...more cake, anyone? 

Distance 8 miles (but seems more!) 

Hills and views- The Hardy Monument

The monument in the Autumn mists

High on a hill near Dorchester, and visible for many miles around, stands a monument to a man chiefly remembered for kissing a sailor.
The Hardy monument, a rather squat ugly edifice, was erected in 1844 to the memory of the other Hardy, Trafalgar veteran Admiral Thomas Masterman Hardy.

So kissable....

Hardy, born at Long Bredy in1769 lived close by at Portesham. 
He was captain of the Victory at Trafalgar when his dying friend, Nelson, uttered those three fateful words, 'Kiss me Hardy,' so consigning the poor bloke to be the butt of schoolboy jokes for eternity.






There is another more prurient version of these events, by the way, with Nelson's dying words being interpreted as 'Kismet, Hardy'... meaning...'Fate, Hardy.'
Away from the smoke of battle the views across Dorset are breathtaking. Footpaths radiate to all points of the compass as do bridleways; so bring you dog or mountain bike or even a mountain biking dog.