October 2022 Trip
Lyme Regis
|
Sadly, our final walk this trip. We bus to Abbotsbury and walk through the village down to the coast. It's a perfect English day! We were thrilled to see that the path goes right along the beach for quite a bit. I picture us kicking off our boots and meandering gently across warm, soft sand, the sea on our left, the sun beaming overhead. But nope. It's a pebble beach that goes on until the end of the earth. They call it shingle and it's like trudging through snow.  Breaking for lunch at the 4-mile point. Then on we trudge.    Tea and cake at the 6-mile point. It appears the shingle-trudging is over!  All those warning signs and the path goes this close to the edge? The wind has picked up and it's a bit worrying.   We are near the end. Just one hill to go down and we'll reach West Bay! But then this.    West Bay just below!   Welcome notice.  Cheers!
1 Comment
Well, it’s too windy to walk so we bailed and visited the shops and cafes and pubs in a couple of small towns. Winds are at 40mph and there were times during that one long mile when we could barely stand up. Up on the cliffs would have been much worse! First time wind has stopped us from walking.  Those are the cliffs we should be walking today.     Lots of little shops in Sidmouth! We eat and buy a few bottles of local gin.  How fun would it be to make and bottle your own gin!  Sausage roll and our only cream tea this trip.  Waiting for the bus back to Lyme Regis we get out of the wind and down a healthy quantity of gin and tonics. Now we’ll head back out and see if walking is easier or if we fall over. We almost didn't walk today. It poured down rain all night, and the howling window woke us up several times. During one of those times I googled "what wind speed is too dangerous to hike?" and learned all about the Beaufort Scale, which I never knew existed. Bottom line: near gale force winds were expected today, which means we'd be crazy to hike on exposed cliff tops. After studying the guidebook and Google Earth, we determined that we would mostly be in tree shelter on today's hike and except for getting wet, we'd be OK. So we caught the 9:25 bus to Seaton.
 The undercliffs were formed by landslides, resulting in a section of land between back cliffs and cliffs closer to the sea. Constant movement (a bit like a glacier) means that between the back cliff and the sea, deep fissures open up. There are warnings posted all over advising you to not to wander off the path. We heed those warnings.  In other words, plan to turn around or finish. There is no where to go in between!
   The back cliffs.
 We see the sea again! 
 The ancient Norman St Nicholas Priory is only open on Mondays, which is why we went to Exeter today.
St Nicholas Priory Today the Priory is a museum, reflecting an Elizabethan town house. It's the oldest standing building in Exeter. The cellar (above) dates from early Norman. How cool is that?!    An ancient casket, probably circa 1300s. The body would have been wrapped in lead first.  Huge kitchen. The fireplace on the left would have been used as a spit to roast large beasts. The other would be used for porridge and suet and whatever else wasn't a beast. 
|
 |  |
Cute Old Houses
 |  |  |
We take a bus to Abottsbury, then walk through the village to the coast.
 |  |
We were thrilled to see that this walk was mostly along the beach. I had visions of warm sand, kicking off our boots, and meandering over the soft fluff, the sea on our left, the sun shining overhead. Nope.
We climb the bridge up to the sea and it's pebbles, not sand, going on to the end of the earth. It's like walking through snow.
 |  |
Lunch at the 4-mile mark.
Tea and cake at 6 miles. We have to keep our energy up!
It's about this point that the wind kicks up. We're not too worried as we only have two miles or so to go.
All those signs warning to stay away from the cliffs? And then this? It's a bit worrying but this is the last hill up before the last hill down to West Bay.
But there's another hill down and then up before we get to the final down. Bloody hell.
Nice flat walk across the top.
Final descent. It's a bit worrying because of the wind but we make it because there's no choice!
Cheers!
This was one tough hike. So many ups and downs, vicious winds, rain threatening on and off all day. But the thing that kept us going was the Sunday carvery (roast beef and Yorkshire pudding) at the end. But first, we drink tea on the patio and watch the sun struggle to come out.
This is the view from our patio looking east, where we plan to walk today. The area had huge landfalls in the late 1990s, causing the path to be moved inland. The diversion goes up streets, through woods, and across a golf course.
We pack a hearty lunch.
 The path meanders up the street. |  |
Finally, we are back along the coast.
 |  |
 |  |
 |  Windy and hard to walk! |
 |  When we stopped in Seatown we debated stopping there and taking a bus to West Bay (where the carvery is). But after a cider we decide to keep going. |
I am ready to drop. But...the carvery keeps me going.
 |  |
The wind is fierce!
 |  |
When the cliff collapsed, it took the path fence with it!
It's about here when we look down at the coast and wonder why we're going up and down hills when we could just be strolling along the beach.
 We find a path down and walk the rest of the way along the beach. |  Landslides. |
 West Bay! |  The carvery! |
And, we miss the last bus home.
We usually skip London but Bob wanted to see Westminster Abbey so we spent the day walking London and spent the night at the marvelous Great Scotland Yard hotel. The hotel has lots of police memorabilia, including these whistle which I love because can you imagine US police blowing whistles?
This is the very chair King Charles will sit on during his coronation.
Our goal is always to take as little as possible but still have everything we need. (Not to brag but we've gotten pretty good at it!) It will be colder than we're used to as we've never hiked this late in the year, and it's supposed to rain all week, but nothing we can do about that! We'll pack warm jackets and rain gear and hope for the best.
We leave today. Will carry on our luggage to keep things easy. Click photo below to see what we're taking:
We leave today. Will carry on our luggage to keep things easy. Click photo below to see what we're taking:
How amazing is this cottage! It's a tad tricky to get to, and we'll have to rely on a few cabs and friendly drivers, but...that view!
According to her letters, Jane Austin stayed in Lyme Regis at least twice with her family. Austen's last great novel, Persuasion, has an important scene set along the coast. Although Lyme Regis was already a fashionable seaside town in the 18th and 19th century, when Persuasion was released in 1817, tourism skyrocketed. I've always wanted to visit the Cobb, which is where the most dramatic scene in Persuasion takes place: Louisa Musgrove falls off the steps of the Cobb and is "taken up lifeless!"
Horrors!
Horrors!
