Delightful Dorset

Our annual holiday this year was in The West Country, and in particular the delights of Dorset and Somerset. We managed to strike a balance between having a relaxing holiday and cramming a lot in; so much so I have split this blog posting to cover Dorset first and I will do Somerset later.
On our trip down south to Dorset we broke the journey with an over-night stay in Worcester. We stayed in the Premier Inn which was attached to Worcester Cricket Club, however there was no cricket on that night, but we did have a fine view of Worcester from our room window:

Worcester from Hotel Window

Once we had unpacked we took a little walk over the bridge and along the banks of the River Severn.

Bridge over the Severn

Churches on the Banks of the Severn

Once on the bridge we could see the real religious focus of Worcester, its magnificent Cathedral:

Worcester Cathedral

Despite being an early Tuesday evening the river was quite busy with rowing boats, such as this coxed eight racing boat passing a large group of swans:

Coxed Eight and Swans

On a more light-hearted theme (but I'm sure just as physical) there was this dragon boat completed with drummer beating out the rhythm for the rowers:

Dragon Boat on River Severn

The next morning we left Worcester and headed south to the picturesque Dorset town of Lyme Regis where we would be staying in a lovely guesthouse for three nights.
Lyme Regis is built on the side of a steep valley which leads down to the sea (the English Channel to be precise) and our guesthouse was near the top of the hill and boasted fantastic views. We even had our own balcony where we were served breakfast and could enjoy the view over Lyme Bay:

View from our Balcony

It was such a nice afternoon when we arrived we decided to leave the unpacking to later and took a leisurely stroll down to the waterfront. We skirted along the side of the river Lim as it meandered down towards the sea. Stopping at a bench by the river for a brief rest we saw an elegant Grey Wagtail busily hopping from stone to stone feeding on insects:

We continue on our walk passing by some of the historic features of Lyme Regis including a water mill which has existed for seven hundred years and (with some restoration) is still grinding wheat to make flour for bread. Reaching the waterfront at the east end of Marine Parade we took in the lovely scenery of Lyme Bay and the Jurassic Coast:

Lyme Bay and the Jurassic Coast

Moira at Lyme Bay

Looking West along Marine Parade

We promenaded along Marine Parade to the west end of the town before making our way back up the hill through Langmoor Gardens and Lister Gardens. It may have been a leisurely stroll down from the guesthouse to the waterfront but I can safely say that it took twice as long and twice as much effort getting back up to the guesthouse. The views from the gardens were however worth stopping for:

Lyme Beach from Langmoor Gardens

The Harbour and The Cobb from Langmoor Gardens

We had a well earned rest in the guesthouse before we journeyed back down the hill for our evening meal, then back up the hill in time for bed.....phew!!
The next day we took a short drive to the nearby town of Sidmouth which is another Lyme Bay resort a few miles to the west of Lyme Regis.

Moira on the Prom at Sidmouth

Sidmouth Promenade

 The weather wasn't so sunny this day but it was still comfortably warm. There was a little bit of wind and the waves were crashing on to the pebble beach at Sidmouth.

Me and Crashing Waves

It is an area where the force of the waves have been eroding the cliffs for thousands of years, and the red cliffs at Sidmouth have had their fair share of landslides. This is good news if you are a fossil hunter as new finds are unearthed quite regularly; however not good news if you have a house at the top of the cliffs.
The power of the waves can best be demonstrated in this video taken at the west end of the promenade where the incoming sea lifts up thousands of large pebbles, which then roll back down the beach making a very eerie roaring noise:

As it was near to Sidmouth, it seemed silly not to visit the RSPB Reserve at Aylesbeare Common, just in case there were some rarities about. A twenty minute drive up and down the rolling hills of Dorset/Devon took us there and we had just stepped out of the car when a fellow visitor pointed out that a Dartford Warbler was singing in the gorse bushes opposite the car park.
We could certainly hear it singing but failed to get any sight of it before it disappeared. We then crossed the road and into the reserve continuing to look for anything of interest.

Moira Scanning for Rarities

We were barely ten minutes in to our walk around the reserve when we heard a Dartford Warbler singing again; this time it flew to the top of a bush and we had a great view of it. It even hung about long enough for me to capture it on video:

It may not look too spectacular on my video but the Dartford Warbler is a very rare bird to see in Britain. You really have to come to these upland heathlands in southern Britain to stand any chance of seeing one.
Aylesbeare Common is not just renowned for its rare birds it also has quite a few of the less common butterflies. Unfortunately it was quite breezy that day and any butterflies we did see were flying past at 100mph making it difficult to even identify them never mind photograph or video them.
We did however manage to capture this Green Hairstreak butterfly as it stopped for a rest for a few moments before re-joining the great butterfly chase:

We saw (or heard) a few other interesting birds at Aylesbeare including Yellowhammer, Wren, Chiff-chaff and another species common around here, the Stonechat.
Here is a female Stonechat tidying up its feathers for a night out on the town:

So that was about it for Aylesbeare, we headed back to Lyme Regis for a well-earned rest before braving the hills once again to go out for an evening meal.
The next day the weather started really hot and sunny so we enjoyed our breakfast out on the balcony. We decided to stay in Lyme Regis and enjoy a walk down the town to see the local sites as this was our last full day in Dorset.
First stop was the water mill where we were fortunate enough to catch the first guided tour and learn all about how they use the power of the water to grind the wheat to make the flour that makes the bread. We had to have the obligatory cream tea after that.
By now the weather had changed and it was slightly cooler and looking like a few showers were heading our way. We had a stroll along the new sea wall at the east beach but did not walk all the way to Charmouth as the weather was starting to close in. In fact the rain started as we headed back so we ducked into the nearby Lyme Regis museum.
As the Lyme Bay area is famous for its fossils (hence the Jurassic Coast) you can probably guess that the museum displays were dominated by fossils and  fossil hunters (such as Mary Anning, Lyme Regis's very own palaeontologist from the early 1800s). There were of course other displays about the town and how it was once a thriving port and boasted it's own branch railway line which no longer exists. Most of it however related to the fossil hunters and the historic discoveries that changed our understanding of the geology of the earth and the creatures that inhabited both land and sea.
They even had a model of a ancient species of toothed fish called a Legosaurus:

Reconstruction of a Legosaurus

Legosaurus Close-up

Those astute fossil hunters amongst you will have recognised it is actually a model of an Ichthyosaur made out of Lego.
By the time we left the museum the weather had improved (at least the rain was off) but it still look a bit ominous. We walked along Marine Parade to the Harbour end of the beach where we stopped for a bite of lunch in a seaside café. There were a few boats in the harbour and one or two sitting on the inner harbour wall, including this cheeky little fishing boat:

A Fishing Boat Named Slippery Dick

After lunch we decided to brave the slightly misty weather and take a walk along Lyme's famous outer harbour wall 'The Cobb'.

The Cobb, Lyme Regis

If you've never read the book or seen the film 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' then the significant of The Cobb may be lost on you. Apart from being a fantastic piece of early civil engineering it also featured in this book/film where a woman spends many months on the end of The Cobb staring out at sea waiting for her French lieutenant to return.
In the film Meryl Streep famously played this woman, dress in a black hooded cloak, being battered by the elements at the end of The Cobb. For a brief moment I thought I saw Meryl in her iconic pose on The Cobb, but alas I was mistaken:

The French Lieutenant's Wummin

At least she had the same initials (and the hood).
That was the last of our adventures in Lyme Regis and Dorset, the next morning we rose, crammed our bags into the car and headed for sunny Somerset (but that's another story)

Take care,

Teddyedward