Beer to Lyme Regis - Wednesday 22nd April 2015
Path Facts - Length: 8.3 miles, ascent 1560 ft
Sunny already at 7.30am. We can't really complain about most of the weather we've had on this walk. I'm actually a bit burnt from yesterday. Walking basically in one direction all of the time you get to be red on one side and white on the other. This, coupled with the usual walker's tan with shirt, shorts, sock lines, means you don't really get the sort of sexy all over body tan like you might get lying on a beach. But who wants to do that?
8.30am breakfast. Left at 9.15am. There's a short but slightly tricky navigational section before arriving at Seaton. Also the navigation on initially arriving in Seaton was tricky. You can generally just stick as close to the coast as possible but not this time. The diversion is unexpected and not as clearly signposted as it could be.
I don't enjoy bad-mouthing the places we go to but, to be blunt, Seaton is a bit of a hole. There's some really ugly concrete block type flats near the sea front. The rest of the town isn't that much better. A bit like one of my colleagues once described Weston Super Mare: "Like Stevenage with a pier". It looked dire even in blazing sunshine. Can't imagine a grey day in winter.
We got a packed lunch from a small cafe and some further supplies from Tescos then left Seaton about 11am.
The next stretch goes along Dowlands Cliff and landslips. This is a longish stretch where a large length of cliff has slipped and then become overgrown with vegetation. Due to recent landslips there were major diversions and we followed the route along quiet country lanes and a track through the rather posh Rousdon Estate.
At a later point, after discussion with walkers coming the other way, we decided we would forge a route back onto the official path. This involved a bit of dense vegetation and one small fence but wasn't too much trouble. It sounds like many folk had ignored the diversion completely. This is a bit of a tricky area: I can see that the local authority need to cover themselves from health and safety negligence. On the other hand, many of the slips are less extreme than you are led to believe. I suppose there is an increased risk of further slips but you'd have to be pretty unlucky for the slip to occur right at the moment you were walking on it.
Having got back onto the path, this is quite an interesting and different stretch. Walking along the slipped land is a bit like being in a different world - not quite Land that Time Forgot but a sliver of that.
Eventually the Dowlands section opens out and descend down to the Cobb on the West side of Lyme Regis. There was no obvious sign that we had entered Dorset. Stopped for a cuppa along the sea front. Booked a likely eatery, dropped the packs off at the B&B about 3pm then had a wander around Lyme Regis. I like the old, labyrinthian bookshop and the fossil shops. Also went round the museum which is worth a look.
Ate at the Royal Standard in the evening. Pretty cold after the sun went down. Quite good food but not much of it. Slight mix up with the deserts but no great complaints.
An evening view towards next day's trek up Golden Cap.
Special recommendation for Albany Guest House. They were fairly newly opened. The rooms were really nicely done and they were very friendly and looked after you. Book now!
Info
Accommodation - Albany Guest House
Location ***** on the path, on the East side of town.
Room *****
Facilities *****
Noise *****
Food ****
Ambience ****
Price **** £75 for the room
Food – Royal Standard
Quality ***
Price ***
