August 4-7, 2015: Although many streets in Lyme Regis climb steeply up the encircling hills, flat walks are possible. My first afternoon in town, after checking into my cosy B&B, I walked over to, and along, the Cobb, taking care not to fall down the steps, as I hadn’t brought a Captain Wentworth along to catch me. Lyme Regis now extends all the way to the Cobb, and in addition to good views of the coast, I noticed several interesting buildings.
The next day, after the mostly flat history walk in the morning, I went east. The coast around Lyme is known as the Jurassic Coast for the age of the rocks, and is subject to erosion and frequent landslides, often exposing significant fossils. Tracy Chevalier’s latest book, “Remarkable Creatures”, is about Mary Anning, who made major discoveries in the early 1800s, including the first ichthyosaurus. The local museum organizes fossil walks at low tide, but I didn’t want to carry rocks around for the next three months, however interesting they might be, and stayed off the beach. If the word “beach” conjures up a picture of flat sand, or even pebbles, think again. This beach was an intriguing wilderness of mud and rock. Significant work had been undertaken in recent years to stabilize the ground and a new walkway now ran above the beach to the east. It didn’t go far, just far enough for me to get a good view.
If I had been truly energetic I would have taken the bus east to Charmouth the next day and hiked up Golden Cap, which was reputed to offer fabulous views. But even if I had felt more energetic I certainly wouldn’t have attempted the hike in full sun, and the Dorset coast was enjoying remarkably fine weather. Instead, my B&B hosts suggested a circular walk, starting along the course of the river to the appropriately named Uplyme, and then looping across country. The walk to Uplyme was mostly shaded by trees, and featured a former mill and some pretty houses. I trekked uphill to check out the church, where the 10:00 am service was wrapping up with tea and coffee. It looked to have been well-intended.
Instead of following the directions for the rest of the walk, which looked complicated, I opted to make a loop in the other direction, which appeared easy enough on the map the T.I. had given me. Pity that the map didn’t have contour lines, as Gore Lane went up, and then up again, and again. It was one of those walks where you keep expecting the road to flatten out round the next bend, only to find that it keeps going up. However, eventually I crossed the A3052, and then joined the Southwest Coast Path and was rewarded with some really good views of the coast. I recovered with a crab salad sandwich and another macchiato at Amid Giants and Idols, where I had a long chat with the owners, learning that the coffee shop was their retirement business.
My B&B had made me dinner reservations for the Friday and Saturday nights (I can recommend the Millside, where I followed a duck breast appetizer with tender lamb chops), but I hadn’t bothered for Sunday. So it was my own fault when the Indian restaurant where I wanted to eat turned out to be full, and I ate the first fish and chips of the trip instead. Really quite good fish and chips (plaice).
Love the sundial!
Another example of why it pays to look up!
Isn’t the thatched cottage so beautiful!!!
Great stuff! One of my favourite parts of England. Almost bought a place there once!
Very much enjoying your Lyme Regis posts – we were supposed to spend a week there last summer and had to cancel – still very much on our agenda to revisit though.
Oh, I think I remember reading about Mary Anning when I as a boy. She was in my dinosaur book. It had a big, colorful picture of her discovering the first Ichthyosaurus. 🙂
Kathy,
Here is a great app (Apple and Android) Includes Topo maps to help in avoiding steep surprises. Gaia GPS: Topo Maps and Trails for Offline Hiking and Camping by TrailBehind
https://appsto.re/us/bwHNt.i
I used in my last Cornwall adventure and all US camping excursions. It helped locating a number of fun walks in Bermuda. As an added bonus, it provides a track to document where you’ve been. That might be nice for this blog