Beer to Lyme Regis. 23/4/11 - 11 miles

The French Lieutenants woman chose a great area to wander enigmatically - we just love the undercliffe.

Its an amazingly hot April day. By the time of our mid afternoon departure from Beer the beach is packed. Nobody venturing into the sea though, climate change has not gone that far. And this time we have brought a camera. The blog gets illustrated! Sensational.

After the mile or so of cliff path we enter Seaton along the beach from the Seaton Hole end. There are those who feel the whole town could be thus named. Today at least it provides a welcome ice cream. We speculate on what the new building in the low lying end of town by the Axe might turn into. So its with some relief that we head up through the golf course and apporach the undercliffe walk.

We manage to get past the fields of rape seed in full on yellow overkill without sneezing and the nature reserve boudary heralds a transformation into a unique, wild and slendid six miles of woods, ridges and wildflowers with the occaisional sea view. On days like this remote parts of the south coast can feel very mediterreanean.

We are impressed at how nature has reclaimed these landslips from turnip crops in the nineteenth century. The information boards are helpful , and also carry warnings about there being no exit from this path, and how straying from it risks going down a ravine. Sometimes in this country warning signs can appear a bit over the top, but not here. It really is a challenging few miles, with lots of ascents and descents, wooden steps, and very few other punters.

We pause for rest quite regularly, and have lunch on a conveneintly shaped tree (see the intro page to this blog). There is a fabulous natural avenue of wild garlik, and lots of beetles and varied ferns and woodland plants, many of which we fail to identify. As the afternoon gets later, the birdsong takes of. At one of our rests the  wilderness atmosphere is particularly strong. A comments that she can image a T- rex showing up at some point. J has his camera, but the battery gives up in the middle of this great photogenic highlight. A's is charged up however so if a dino appears, we will be ready.
However we see no extinct creatures despite slight dehydration and after 3 hours we arrive into Lyme and take malted refreshment at the Harbourside pub and allow our endorphines to settle after a stretch we were looking forward to, but exceeded expectations.

Sidmouth to Beer 17/4/11 - 8.4 miles.

The best of East Devon’s woodland cliff tops and sea views

We have walked along the beach from Sidmouth to Weston Mouth, however, this is pretty hard going on shingles and we do recommend checking for news of recent rock fall.

On this occasion we cross the iron bridge and climb the footpath which goes past  houses and up to a well earned sit down on a bench where we take in the spectacular views of Ladram  and Start Point just in the far distance. The weather holds and the blue skies make a really beautiful sight.

The path goes from here to Salcombe Regis, a very pretty village with parking in the church yard -  worth a visit. We continue from here on to Western Mouth. This was a relatively early morning walk and the views again make us feel lucky to live here. This beach is known to be favoured by loyal naturists but we are spared this treat for today at least.

On towards Branscombe, we meet a group of women in training for the entire south west coastal path walk they will be doing in a few weeks to raise money for children’s hospices. They are using what looks like very handy walking poles. A considers how to drop a suitable hint about how useful these look in time for her soon to be celebrated birthday.

The walk down into Branscombe takes us through lovely woodland where the Daffodils are currently glorious.  We head for the Fountain Inn the better of the two pubs in the village and sit outside among the grockles and enjoy a pint of locally brewed Branoch.

It’s a lovely woodland trail with glimpses of the sea from here into Beer. We like this stretch particularly after a late evening sunset walk, which developed into a full on moonlit night, sparkling on the sea and everything!

Beer is quiet when we arrive, and despite the great cliff top location of the beer garden, the pub is somewhat sterile.

However we have glimpsed Portland in the distance, Dorset beckons.

Exmouth to Sidmouth. 19 & 20/3/11 - 11.4 miles

High peak and Ladram bay are major highlights, if you are able to ignore the caravan park

The Jurassic coast officially begins at a slightly weird UNESCO obelisk just on Orcombe point. It is possible to shoot off along the sand at low tide here, but we opt for the low cliffs, having resisted the temptation of the Young’s pub back in Exmouth proper. The first stretch requires confronting Sandy Bay caravan park, the first of many and one of the least attractive (there will stiff competition!) You cannot enter the rifle range at Straight Point, but as you climb up to South West Down Beacon the scenery much improves, this is more like it.

The odd flashes of incongruous colour on the left belong to golfers on the East Devon Golf course, but there are some benches amid the gorse and fern offering excellent views towards Budleigh Salterton.

Bit of a diversion into an unremarkable pub at Budleigh, cannot recall the name but there seem few others visible from the path.  Refusing the charms of one of many 1950’s vintage tea rooms we head along the beach, and a few moments in front of the Red Devonian sandstone and Scots pines of Otterton ledge is time well spend.

The routes heads a little inland up the Otter estuary, and here we are being a little creative with the timings, bear blog fan, as this is the closest point to A’s abode in Ottery, and we can nip back for recuperation.

The estuary is lovely with birds, hides, and wildlife, plus a music venue and afternoon teas at Otterton Mill. (with wasps in high summer!)

Across the river we return to cliff tops for a few miles until Ladram Bay comes into view. And what to say about Ladram Bay? It was a beautiful clear spring day with blue sky, green sea and the fabulous red stacks of Ladram Rocks to the right. This is a calendar pin up view. However look to the left and the unsightly expanse of the vast caravan shanty town vexes the spirit. Beyond the clubhouse we take water and decide that this walk , all the way to Studland, will be the grand project for the summer.

With extra enthusiasm we decide to ascend the main summit of High Peak (152m), you can in fact go round this on the path, but we need to build our thigh power. Just as we felt in a good rhythm, a group of eastern European staff from the caravan park stride effortlessly past.

Beyond here there are some great viewpoints. The fact that thick woods come right up to the cliff edge and undercliff here is a great feature of the Devon end of the trail. Also good to have shade in this record breaking hot springtime.

We like Sidmouth. We arrive at Jacobs Ladder, can’t face the queue from the tearooms in Connaught Gardens and end up with Cappuccino in a plastic mug and tuna sandwich on the beach. We aim to return here for the folk festival, first week of August.  And there is Young’s beer after all, in the best pub in town, the Swan.

Portland circuit 12.2.2011 - Distance 12.1 miles.

Ok, you may have spotted we have not started at the beginning. We began with Portland because we were there at the time.

This was a great start to our project as it has many interesting and varied aspects. as well as the infamous and unique atmosphere that only Portland can provide, if a little rocky underfoot at times.

We set off on a grey saturday morning beginning at the Weymouth and Portland sailing academy, site for the 2012 Olympics. We opted to walk anti-clockwise route which would allow us to end at the Cove Inn.

The intial ascent starts at Portland casle with a steep climb through the housing estate. We immediately had great views of the harbour, Chesil beach ,Weymouth Bay and Underhill. The Verne prison remains mostly out of sight on it's cliff top.

We come across local youths in one of the old quarry sites entertaining themselves by setting alight  a wheely bin to keep warm. It feels very much as though we have entered a scene from a Ken Loach docu-drama.

After taking in the high fence of the young offenders institution one of the best wild sections begins at Church Ope cove. This is an attractive spot and J recommends it as a reasonable snorkling spot in warmer weather. For now though we take in the ruins of the ancient church and watch a man with this sketch pad.

The next stretch is a rocky and beautiful route southwards taking in the views of the lighthouse. we passed the first of several cranes  once used to load the stone onto boats

At this point lunchtime was approaching and we  placed bets on whether the cafe at the Bill would be open. A lost the bet and paid  too much for the rather ordinary leek and potato soup. It was a fine location, however.

A quick detour on the limestone pavement to view Pulpit Rock at close quaters. Nobody 'tombstoning' today. The walk resumes past some 'ministry of attack' property and along the increasingly high cliffs of the West Wears. Scenery gets better as we approach the scupture park, and divert to take in the rather good 'spirit of Portland' sculpture. Then its down the hill, looking at the land sculpure showing the different grades of Portland Stone, past the closed but interesting looking Quiddles Cafe and into the Cove for a well earned pint.(or in A's case, tia maria and coffee). We like this pub, nice location, nice pictures of shipwrecks, seems busy at all times these days.

Its cold as we return to the car at the sailing academy, was it at this point we hit on the momumental decision to do the whole darn Jurassic Path?  (No.... A)

Introducing Jerry and Angela's blog

In celebration of our newly forged cross county romantic links, it seemed fitting to undertake a walk of some of the greatest scenery around our respective home towns. We live in Dorchester in the fine county of Dorset, and Ottery St Mary in glorious Devon.

For no good reason we have decided to start in Devon and head east through the UNESCO world heritage site over the coming weeks and months, sampling scenery, wildlife, public transport, and what decent food and drink might be available to sustain us in our efforts.