Tuesday: 30th May: Weather: 9°C to 18°C: Very cool wind in morning, warm afternoon
Sidmouth to Penn Cross: 21.0 walk: 9hrs: 7.45am to 4.45pm: 2 x 30m stops 1 x1hr bus: Ascent: 723 metres
Accommodation: Shepherd’s Hut Cummins Farm, Penn Cross, 4k from Lyme Regis
Looking back towards Sidmouth
Cliff edges continually falling
Weston Bay Beach of pebbly stones
Coffee overlooking Weston Bay
White cliffs of compacted sea shells
Heading towards Seaton
Lunch overlooking Beer Beach
First glimpse of Seaton from Beer
Pebbly beach into Seaton
Fossils in pebble Seaton Beach
Bus queue Lyme Regis for Penn Cross
Cold Beer Shepher’s Hut Penn Cross
Highlights of day 17 were all about another wonderful cool sunny day walking along the red cliffs of Devon with views up and down the coast then crossing into Dorset at Lyme Regis. It was a very long day, with a 21k walk from Sidmouth to Seaton, followed by bus to Lyme Regis then another bus to the camp ground at Penn Cross - no we didn’t camp, but we were in a shepherd’s hut that was part of the Cummins Farm Camping Ground.
Last night, our Air BnB was cosy and we slept well. We’re awake at 5.30am and probably woke the dogs. Carla later apologised that the dogs had woken us, but it was vice versa. The take away breakfast left for us is really nice. First it’s a cup of tea, and then Muesli and yoghurt, rasberries, bluberries and toast with home made jam.
We say good and thank you to Carla and leave at 7.45am to walk the 2k back down the River Sid to buy cream for our coffee. It’s a cold 9°C and windy, and we’re trying to walk on the sunny side of the street. Tesco’s doesn’t have single cream but the Co-Op next door does and I immediately dispense the cream into 4 small jars, keeping one aside for our coffee in two hours time.
There are three steep climbs this morning - enough to warm us up quickly. First up to Salcombe Hill, then a descent and ascent up to Dunscombe Cliffs, and thirdly, down to Weston Mouth and up to Weston Cliff where we stop at 10.15 for a coffee, the only place with a seat we’d seen for the past hour out of the wind. I take the usual morning coffee photo and in trying to step up higher off the path, manage to brush past a heap of stinging nettles. I try to rub them with what I think is a dock leaf, the antidote, but it doesn’t really work. Ouch! A lone walker appears. He is from Bristol and says he has five holiday cabins in different places around Devon. He explains that the red cliffs are 250 million years old, made from red desert sands and are very loosely compacted and unstable but the white cliffs that were made 150 million years ago from crushed sea shells, are solid as concrete and more stable.
After the three steep climbs, thank goodness it’s a level walk across Coxe’s Cliff where we encounter many walkers, families, couples and groups - we find out later that it’s a school holiday week. Then it’s a steep drop down through the forested wood into Branscombe Mouth where there are more holiday makers swimming (in 13°C water) and lunching.
The next Coastal sign gives us the option of climbing Hooken Cliffs, or walking the lower undercliff path. Having been climbing all morning, we choose the lower path. Wrong! It was rocky, overgrown with nettles, up and down, twisting and slow going with no sea view. Undercliffs are formed when the cliff collapses, sometimes hundreds of years ago, and revegetation is a tangled mess of vines, thorny bushes and stinging nettles. It takes us almost an hour to walk less than two kilometres to Beer where we have a cheese sandwich lunch perched on a seat overlooking Beer beach.
The next 3k into Seaton is mostly along a pebbly beach, and being part of the Jurassic Coast there are bits of fossils in almost every pebble on the beach. It’s 2.30 and we'd planned to go to the Teaso’s superstore about 400 metres the other side of town, then come back to catch the bus from Seaton to Lyme Regis. But after checking the bus time table and finding the next bus left at 3.05 with no other for two hours, Plan B was to get this bus and shop at Lyme Regis instead.
The 30 minute bus trip into Lyme Regis takes us through the farmland of Devon and arrives in Lyme Regis at 3.35pm, right outside the Co-Op and Tesco Express. We do a quick shop at Tesco’s for beer, nuts, butter and pork sausages and join the 50 metre long queue for the next bus to Bridport, hoping it stops near the Cummins Camp Ground. We pile on the double decker bus and it’s soon full so the bus driver shuts the door with 10 people still left waiting for the next bus in an hours time.
We stand at teh front of the bus, following the route with the GPS on my phone, but I press the bell too late and the bus sails past the sign to Cummins Camp ground, and we have to walk about 600 metres back on a busy road. There’s no office reception at the camp site, but I recognise the shepherd's hut from the booking.com photo, and walk in to find the key inside together with 2 x 50p for the communal shower hot water slot. The shower is nice and hot and soon we’ve disassembled our gear and looking for the BarBQ to cook our pork sausages. No BarBQ. Bummer! But there is a microwave, so I prick the sausages and cook them on a low temperature. Twenty minutes later we’re eating boiled microwaved sausages, with mashed rehydrated cauliflower, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise, with a beer and the last of our Mateus Rose.
Time to finally sort photos and curl up in bed. It’s 9pm and getting cold.