Being ill is often the worst. You’re stuck in bed feeling terrible and all you want to do is either sleep, watch Netflix, or just die and get it over with. However, that’s not always the case. After experiencing severe pain in my leg, the doctor confirmed I had sciatica and was ordered to take some time off from work. This was not normal time off work, but a “you’re not allowed to sit down for too long a period and make sure you get plenty of exercise” time off work. In other words I was given a month of to go out and keep the leg moving. I was also given physio to do, but being active was the important bit.

So when Hedgie said “Let’s go to Weymouth for a day trip”, I had the time off and Doctor’s Orders ™ instructed me to comply. Plus, I was yet to collect Weymouth for #PupAllTheStations so this was the perfect time to get it. Not to mention the weather was lovely. What better reason do you need? Naturally, Hedgie came up with this master plan in the middle of the night, so we quickly checked train time and prices and then headed to bed. Morning arose and we made the bus journey down to the station and jumped aboard our train. Before long we had arrived at the seaside town, with the late morning sun beaming down on us. So we quickly grabbed the photo for the station before going exploring.

Everyone has always told me how lovely Weymouth is. Its praises are sung from the rooftops and no one ever has a bad word to say about it. Well, allow me to buck this trend. Weymouth is BORING AS ALL HELL. It is the very epitome of generic seaside tourist trap, with the additional caveat that places like Swanage and Minehead do it better. We followed the tramlines to the quay and other than pupping the disused quay station we soon found there was precious little to do other than go to the hugely overcrowded beach or have an overpriced meal at one of the many hundred tourist focused eateries. We camped by the lifting bridge for a while and counted all the food and drink venues we could see, and almost every building had some sort of consumable as their product. The bridge opening to let taller vessels up the river was a moment of distraction, but that was it. Disappointed, we headed back to the station to get the train back, and it was then I had an idea. The day was still (reasonably) young, and there were a lot of stations between Weymouth and home. I already had completed the line from home to Bournemouth, so why not try and pup as many stations between Bournemouth and Weymouth as we could? Hedgie was game, and so with a map of the route downloaded on our phones, we boarded the train to our next destination.