Days 34 – 35: July 24th & 25th

We checked out of the Harbour Hotel on a grey and windy morning but it wasn’t raining. Our next destination was Lyme Regis which is in Dorset.
The journey was supposed to take 2 1/2 hours but the traffic was heavy and Google Maps had me coming on and off motorways and through villages in an attempt to shave off minutes. Of course it rained just as we stopped for a break at one of the service centres. Note to self: avoid Starbucks. Their coffee is awful. I still can’t get used to dogs being in cafes everywhere. So odd.
We are staying at St Andrew’s House in Lyme Regis. It is huge and has a heated pool, full size snooker table and lots of guest rooms. Its rooms are also very well appointed with an excellent bathroom.

The house has another whole wing behind. There is also a separate parking area at the back accessible from a lane at the side. Our room is the one at the top end of the yellow wall and has the 2 nearest upstairs windows.

Apparently no pool fencing regulations here!

We have a sea view but it’s in the distance as we are up the hill above the town. Between staying in St Ives and at Lyme Regis our fitness is improving as both have some remarkably steep hills!

Forgot to take a photo before we trashed the room 🤪

Looking out our window towards the town and sea.

We had booked to eat at a restaurant that was on Jen’s list of things to do in Lyme Regis it is called Hix Oyster and Fish House and is located on the hill overlooking the western part of the bay. It has a lovely view and was an excellent meal so we also booked for the whole family to dine there the following night. Hix is evidently a celebratory chef around here.
As in other places we are also finding that it is hard to get into restaurants when they are open, which tends not to be every day.

Outside the Oyster and Fish House. He must be trying to sell as has dropped the “Hix” from the name although that remains what everyone calls it.

It was actually sunny and felt warm when we awoke the next day, Tuesday. Well the high was 19C and it was 15C when we set out so we are definitely getting acclimated. We were confident not to take raincoats which was of course false confidence but a couple of shops and a coffee enabled us to dodge the worst of it.

Seriously! There are no obstacles for traffic around here.

Part of the town’s historic sea defences

The sea walls along here are quite something. It’s like being on castle walls.

Lyme Regis is at the start of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. There are fossil shops everywhere and that is the big thing to do here along the beaches. I can’t believe that in a protected area you can actually go and take fossils away but it seems so.

We couldn’t get down to below the cliffs as the tide hadn’t quite gone out enough so no fossils for us. They come out of the cliffs which are part of a giant and active land slip system.

We had a good walk along both beaches which were being much enjoyed by all.

Evidently these beach huts are really expensive and hard to come by. They seemed to soak up quite a number of people and were used for sitting and snoozing and changing, cups of teas etc. I wanted to photograph inside but couldn’t find one without residents!

They have a different perception of what constitutes litter here.

We walked around onto the end of the causeway and checked out the fishing boats that were coming in. Pauline says that’s where they filmed the famous scene on the wharf from French Lieutenant’s Daughter although you can’t get out to the very end because of maintenance.

They are fishing for whelks. I asked is there are limits or quotas and he said no and that was the problem as they couldn’t catch enough. Seemed a problem with logic to me but I assume he meant there was over fishing.

Mike thinks this will mean immortality for him.

These were further west down the beach. It is not patrolled here and much less frequented. We have seen heaps of these beach houses being transported around the countryside. It also got suddenly windy and very cold!

Strangely it was warm by the time we’d had a coffee and walked back to the main part of the beach. While we were in this courtyard area having drinks and a sandwich, a group of about 6 people came in and sat down. Between them they had 7 dogs. One couple had 2 spaniels each and there were 3 other assorted carpet sweepers. All very well behaved once the little ones stopped getting their leads tangled around all the furniture.

Only part of the beach has sand. The rest is pebbles. I suspect the sand might be imported as there I’d no reason for it to be in just one area (the “do not litter “ area.)

Our landlady suggested that Sidmouth was the place to go to check out some shops and she was right. Unfortunately the shops there close at between 3 and 4 but we did find some shoes to replace my white ones that are falling apart and some new socks for Mike. Unfortunately we did not notice that the shop omitted to remove the security tag so that is an obstacle to wearing one of the two pairs! Who puts security tags on socks anyway!

Craig, JenY and Pauline arrived this evening after a long and slow drive from London. So great to see them.