Day: 131 18/4/95 Lyme Regis to West Bay

Weather: Drizzle then sunny and cool.  Distance: 15 km, (9.3 miles)    Total Distance:  miles

 After a pleasant Easter at home during which time I had witnessed my youngest son starting to stand upright and also crawl at speed it was time to go to the south Dorset coast for a couple of days. The forecast was poor - wet, windy and cold for the time of year. It was certainly cold in Coventry as I prepared to leave and I had to scrape frost off the car, and there was rain on the way down but by the time I got to Lyme there were already signs of it brightening up. I was comparatively wide awake considering that I hadn't had much sleep. We had been to a pub quiz the previous night and our son had been awake since about 4 o'clock.

I parked in the large car park on the east side of Lyme then walked down into the town looking for the coast path. I soon found that the land slip that had occurred in about 1987 still closed the path and the detour in the guidebook was still in place. It was therefore back up the hill, past the car park, through a couple of fields and into some woodland carpeted with bluebells - a real bonus for not having a coastal route.

I tried to go down a path past a golf club but that route was also blocked - I should have believed the signs! Backtracking 500 yards onto the road and then on an official footpath straight across the golf course - so why couldn't the golf course allow a new footpath past it's perimeter along the coast.  Surely the "negotiations under way" sign should have made progress by now!

The path eventually led through the back streets of Charmouth and down to the beach. I stopped in the cafe for a pasty, kit-kat and tea. It was evident the cafe had a new leaseholder and new stock - the kit-kats were fresh and well overpriced at 30p!

The next part climbed up onto the cliffs. I began to feel silly having put long-johns on at home and now walking in sunshine. The cliff tops were busy with Easter walkers. It was probably possible to walk on the beach at this stage but Golden Cap was coming up - the highest point on the South Coast and I was not going to miss that.  The climb was not steep and well worth it - good views back to the west.

Golden Cap - highest point on the south coast

 

From Golden Cap looking east

I descended the hill down to the beach at Seatown, and was sorely tempted to call in for a beer at the pub whose garden overlooked the beach but avoided that temptation. From there to West Bay I walked along the beach which was a real mix of sand, pebbles and boulders.  I passed the occasional fossil hunter hunting in the many rock falls that littered the coast. I was taken aback by the large variety of different types of stone present in these rock falls which added to the interest of the walk. At Eypes Mouth, a JCB piled up sand to form a base for a line of caravans.

West Bay had both the charm of a harbour town and the less attractive aspects of a town with a caravan park.  The crowds were out enjoying the spring sunshine.

In order to catch a bus back to Lyme Regis I walked up to Bridport. I passed Palmer's brewery which gave the impression of doing OK for itself.  I then called into the Tourist Information Centre to ask about bus stops and times.  I was told there was a bus that minute around the corner and she was right.  I dashed around and into the waiting bus just as the doors were closing. I jumped on. When the driver had freed me from the closing doors I was blamed for making him late!  The drive back to Lyme was via a couple of quaint Dorset thatched villages.

I drove back to Bridport, strolled around the town for an hour looking for places to eat and things to do that evening. There was a folk evening at a pub and a rather brash Brat pack film at the cinema.  The B&B I had booked was hidden away in a narrow street but still in the centre.  It appeared to be run by the man of the house - a gentleman from South Dakota keen to tell his guests about interesting walks in the area. He even told one guest how to walk to the paper shop via a scenic route! His wife appeared mainly to hide out in the loft conversion.   I decided her eye-sight was less than perfect when she told me I looked like Tom Jones!

I ate in one of the two Indian restaurants in town but was too tired after a long day to go to any of the other attractions but had an early night instead.