Weather: Sunny intervals, warm.
Distance: 10.5 km, (6.5 miles)
Total Distance: miles
I had arranged with the lady who ran the B&B to help
myself to breakfast so I could make an early start in order to catch the bus in
Lyme Regis at 11.30 back to Exeter. I was left cereal, a banana and packed
cheese and biscuits - very adequate. I also left 15 pounds even though she had
only charged £13 instead of the advertised £15, but only because I did not have any
change.
The first part of the walk was over one of the oldest
examples of concrete bridges in the country according to the guide and then up
a steep road to a golf club and a marked path through the club. At the end the
path was meant to take a right, down to the coast and a six mile walk through
Undercliffs nature reserve, a wooded area resulting from a large land-slip in
the last century. I was disappointed to see a notice under all the other
information saying the path was closed due to a recent land-slip. I thought of
trying it anyway hoping that the path had been repaired and they had just
forgotten to take down the notice or that they were being overcautious, but the
permanent signs warned what hard walking it was and there was no access except
at either end. I did not feel like getting over half way to Lyme only to find I
had to backtrack it all so I did as they said and went inland.
The first part of the walk was OK, along quiet county
lanes and through the grounds of an expensive public school. The next part was
however along the main road, before the path cut down to the coast into the
wooded area for the last half mile and
then into Lyme Regis. A man walking his dog told me the path had been closed
for about six weeks and was prone to such land-slips.
The cob at Lyne Regis was disappointing - a bit tacky with closed
amusement arcades close by and no sign of Meryl Streep. The town was better. I quickly made the discovery
that a more sensible route home would be to take the bus to Taunton and pick up
my train there. I had a little time to kill so walked along the front for a bit
so I could miss that bit next time, bought some newspapers, a tide timetable
for the year and then the bus turned up. Although marked as the bus for Taunton it
necessitated a change of bus in Axminster.
At Taunton I had to walk through the busy Saturday
shopping crowds to get to the train station and then wait 40 minutes for a
train. I got home about tea time.
A good enough three days walking - not long distances
but the sort of terrain which is hard to do in long stretches.
No comments:
Post a Comment