April 2025 - Bournemouth beach, UK
Last weekend I left sunny London behind and after being stuck on a coach in Easter exodus from London traffic jams, I arrived in cloudy and windswept Bournemouth, a resort town in Dorset, England.
The dream was to stroll along the sandy beach, breathe fresh sea air and capture spectacular sunsets. None of it seemed likely so I called it a day and headed to my B&B hotel and then to the pub across the street. Since I was treating myself, I had a pint of Guinness and a beef burger, haven’t had either in ages!
How they managed to produce a thick, succulent burger in a softest of buns with golden chips in under 10 min, I’ll never know. The Hop Inn is a proper neighbourhood pub with more oversized monitors I could count, all showing football games. It has a pool table too, but the most important are patrons. From men engrossed in TV watching and discussions, to whole families celebrating grandad’s birthday with a number of kids running around as well. You can tell it is a well loved pub.
Apart from capturing glorious sunsets, most of my dreams came true the next day. My B&B was not far from the beach and after breakfast I headed towards the sea. Bournemouth beach is very big and beautiful, the sand is yellow, there are beach huts and facilities you may want. There is an amusement Pier and Ferris wheel for catching the view from above.
They also have an aquarium called Oceanarium on the beach and since the queue was not too bad and the price was not too high I was about to buy a ticket. But then learned they have penguins and that made me a little sad so in the end didn’t go. I am not taking any position on this, to view or not to view animals in captivity. In fact I have been planning to visit London Zoo for a while now since I haven’t been in years, but on this occasion somehow I was not in the mood. Anyway, they had plenty of visitors including lots of children.
At the back of the Ferris Wheel and Oceanarium on the beach, there is a large and very nice park with gardens. Walk through it and you’ll find yourself in a pretty town center which is traffic free and has a number of shops you may want to visit.
I was lucky to have Miso Korean restaurant within one minute walk from my B&B. The restaurant has great reviews and it was very good and reasonably priced but pay attention to their opening times since they close at 20:30. I made it with short time to spare and had ramyeon and home-made kimchi.
As for the beach which was the main point of my visit, I’ll let the pictures speak. I tried to capture vastness of 9.5 miles or 15 km stretch of sand and of course did not succeed. I hope to go back, I haven’t eaten all the food like oysters with a glass of sparkling wine from a beach shack or walked all the beach. It is easy to visit from London, there are trains but also National Express coach service which is comfortable, accommodating and cheaper.
What I found on Bournemouth beach, a heart shaped stone.