A day out at Charmouth

Last year when Son the Elder wanted me to drive him to an event in Crewkerne, I drew up ambitious plans which entailed walking around a couple of hill forts and then driving a few miles south to the coast at Charmouth. The hill fort experience was amazing, but my son decided he'd had enough by late afternoon, so Charmouth had to wait for another day ...

... and that day was Saturday. No rookie errors this time; I headed straight for the sea, rejoicing in the weather forecast which had predicted rain but was clearly wrong.

Looking west towards Lyme Regis

The River Char crossing the beach

For a moment upon arrival I was confused. I was pretty sure I hadn't been to Charmouth before but it felt so familiar. Then I realised I was thinking of Cuckmere Haven in Sussex, where the eponymous river also crosses the beach, though the cliffs there are of chalk, of course, rather than soft silt, mud and clay.  

It was far from crowded, but most people were scouting for fossils near the cliffs so I plonked myself down on the pebbles and looked for sea glass instead, finding handfuls without even having to move.

Looking east with Golden Cap on the horizon

After a time I started to feel a bit dunched, so wandered along the beach ...

... and immediately found the fossil I wasn't looking for (part of a sizeable ammonite-y thing) ...

... as well as the perfect domed paperweight, grey with a white ring. 

I decided to explore the beach to the east of the Char next, and maybe ascend part of the coast path over the cliff to get a better view of Golden Cap, just as soon as I'd had a drink of Ribena back at the car, but the moment I got there, it started to spot with rain. Sitting inside until it went off, the minutes became hours and the hours became the rest of the afternoon and finally it was time to drive back to Crewkerne to pick up Son the Elder, who hadn't wanted to finish early this year, as it turned out. 

Never mind, I had a quantity of sea glass, an unlooked-for fossil and a couple of interesting pebbles to take home with me.  A good day out.

Getting A Cobb On (Or Going For A Burton Bradstock)

And so to Lyme Regis, so that my companion could stand on the Cobb and pretend to be the John Fowles' French Lieutenant's Woman - even on a bank holiday Monday in May and without a hooded black cloak or a storm to go with it.  

I love the Cobb, the first mention of which is in a document dated 1328 (although it has been reconstructed many times since). What a feat of engineering, though.  

The literary character I was keenest not to emulate, whilst balancing on its slanty walkway with an always excitable Ted, was Louisa Musgrove in Jane Austen's 'Persuasion' who famously falls from it (or at least from its steps) and sustains a serious concussion. 

But look, here's a lovely view over to the distinctive outline of Golden Cap ... 

... and here's some boats on Monmouth Beach upon which the Duke of Monmouth landed at the start of the ill-fated Monmouth Rebellion ... 

... and here's the Cobb and harbour seen from the Jane Austen Gardens on the John Fowles Walk. (I sense a bit of a theme developing here.)

But it's a bit too crowded down on the front, so let us away to Burton Bradstock instead ... 

... where the crows are disreputable ...

... there are fossils for the picking up ... 

 ... and  rather more room for a dog to frolic.