Holidays > 2004 > 19 March: Lyme Regis

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• The weather forecast was for heavy rain and 30mph winds, but turned out to be scattered showers and mild winds.
• We stayed at Hook Farm:
  • Address: Hook Farm, Gore Lane, Uplyme, Lyme Regis, Dorset, DT7 3UU
  • Telephone: +44 (0)1297 442801
  • Web Site: http://www.hookfarm-uplyme.co.uk/
  • Email: g.appleton@btconnect.com
  • Directions:
    • Multimap
    • From their web site:
      • From the North / Wales / Scotland.
      • Take the M5 South towards Exeter.
      • Leave at junction 25, the A358 signposted Chard and Ilminster.
      • Continue through Chard and Axminster following signs to Lyme Regis.
      • Turn left up the A35 and then second right on the B3165.
      • In the village of Uplyme, turn right by the telephone box opposite the Talbot Arms into Gore Lane.
      • We are 200m on the right.
• Local Information
  • Lyme Regis Tourist Information Centre
  • Active Lyme Regis Tourist Information Guide
  • A Tourist Information Guide to Lyme Regis, Dorsit, UK.
  • Virtual Fossil Tour
  • Lyme Regis Dorset Visitors Guide

Friday, 19 March 2004 Arrival at Uplyme

I had a few things to do in Stratford-upon-Avon beforehand, so asked Robert and Lesley to call me just as they left Chafford Hundred, which turned out to be 12:30, but it was only two hours later when I finally managed to leave. The trip for them should have been 3.5 hours and me 2.5, so I was expecting to arrive an hour late, but they were stuck in traffic in Dorchester which meant they had only just finished checking in when I arrived at 17:38.

The village just before Uplyme is called Yawl, which means their village sign combined with the sign below it reads, "Yawl drive slowly through our village". You almost expect it to be followed by Yeehaw! Anyway.

There was only one other couple at the site, so we had plenty of pitches to choose from. We decided on slighly higher ground with plenty of surrounding trees for sheltering the gazebo from the forecasted wind. Robert and Lesley had bought a new four berth tent, which meant it was still being erected an hour after I had finished erecting mine and the gazebo.

Dave arrived at about 19:00 while I was putting the finishing touches to the Gazebo, so Lesley helped him while Robert carried on trying to figure out how to erect their new tent.

Dave complained bitterly about it being a stupid idea camping in Winter. It was beginning to look as though we should have had television coverage with Ant and Dec presenting. ;-)

I used my inflatable mattress for the first time, which turned my 2.5 person tent into a single person tent. I will have to see about getting a double mattress in future.

I made cups of tea and coffee for everyone after unpacking the contents of the car into the gazebo. Robert continued to erect his tent and proclaimed at one point that the outer sheet, which had taken most of the time to put in place, might have to be moved over ten centimetres.

Kirsteen was due to arrive at Axeminster train station at 20:30, so Dave and Lesley left at 20:15 to fetch her. Robert decided the outer sheet didn't need moving, as it could be moved away from the inner sheet with a few tweaks here and there, which seemed to work.

Robert and I chatted until Dave, Lesley and Kirsteen arrived. Robert returned to finishing his tent.

Much hilarity followed later with somebody (not me) getting drunk, laughing a lot and ending up with a black eye after tripping over a guy rope. Naming no names - you know who you are. ;^O

We had an early night by going to sleep at midnight, but I was up again at 01:30 attaching five more guy ropes to the tarpauline I had put over the gazebo, as the wind had picked up and was threatening to blow it away.

Saturday, 20 March 2004 Drive into Lyme Regis and Walk along the River Lym

The first plan of action after my breakfast was to move the gazebo to a calmer spot, as the felcro tape was starting to rip off the side walls due to the strong wind. Luckily Dave had some spare guy ropes and pegs so we put one in every eyelet of the tarpaulin. I wasn't convinced the tent pegs were long enough though, as some of the ground wasn't very firm, but it would be fine as long as the wind didn't change direction.

Dave kindly drove us into Axeminster to buy food at Tesco and then on to Lyme Regis, where we parked the car and walked into town following the path along the River Lym. We briefly visited The Town Mill and followed the path past the fourteenth century bridge and on to the promenade (Anchor Walk and Gun Cliff Walk), which actually cover a huge resewarage works that helped the surrounding beaches reach EU standards of cleanliness.

We walked up Church street and back down again to the promenade, but as soon as Robert spotted The Cobb Inn at the end of the west promenade, we headed straight for it. It wasn't as quick as Dave, who hadn't eaten much, would have liked, as we stopped to admire the sea view, take photographs of interesting houses, stared in disbelief at the surfers and more astonishingly wind surfers and wait for Kirsteen to catch up.

Five minutes after we had sat down at the pub, André phoned to say he had arrived in Lyme Regis and ten minutes later, he and Chris (another South African, but with an American accent) turned up. That brought the party to a respectable seven, made up of six South Africans birth and one honorary - Dave, who still insisted this Winter camping thing was madness.

We headed off to a camping shop in Charmouth to buy better tent pegs - longer ones for the soft ground and thicker for the rockier parts. I ended up with ten tent pegs 25 centimetres long and three centimetres thick. They are far too heavy to use on a hiking trail, but the gazebo could definitely do with them.

We all felt much better with the longer pegs in place - especially Robert who fitted them to his new tent.

I prepared my Quorn steak toasted sandwiches while Robert finished his tent, Dave and André started the braai (BBQ) and Lesley and Kirsteen organised the drinks - when will we ever learn.

Nothing eventful happened after this point. That is my story and I am sticking to it. #-(

Sunday, 21 March 2004 Lyme Regis and a Drive along the East Devon Coast

Luckily, the sun came out and dried the tents and gazebo, so we packed up and took a drive into town. It took me a while to get the car going, as the back wheels were on an incline, so the front wheels spun on the wet grass and mud.

We had lunch at The Cobb Inn again, but Dave disappeared saying, "I have eaten here already."

André and Chris left soon after lunch and Robert, Lesley Kirsteen and I took a short walk along the Cobb (harbour wall). They decided it was too cold, their parking ticket was about to expire and they had a long drive back (hopefully less than five hours this time), so left with the promise of camping again at the end of April for Robert's Thirtieth birthday.

I took my time walking along the Cobb taking photographs, which included a family walking their pet lamb!

I decided to visit all the coastal towns along the way to Exmouth before driving back on the M5. The road directly up the hill from the harbour leaving Lyme Regis is extremely steep, so my car stayed in first all the way up. I was startled two thirds of the way up by a hissing sound, which turned out to be the air escaping from a bottle of water I had taken a sip out of at the beach. The drive up the hill was so long and steep that the atmospheric pressure was less enough at the top to cause the air in the bottle to expand!

My first stop was Seaton beach, which was also pebbled, but very impressive with cliffs at either end. The western one, called Beer Head, is home to the village of Beer, which in my photographs was lit up by the Sun's rays streaming through a break in the clouds.

Beer village is set atop Beer Head and spills over into a very narrow valley, so has very narrow roads and one way systems. It is very pretty, but I unfortunately only managed to take a single picture from the Pecorama, which was closed and didn't have a very good view of the town.

I drove through Sidford on the way to Sidmouth and took a photograph of the cliffs just as I was starting up the hill along Ladram Bay to Otterton.

The delta where the River Otter meets the sea is most impressive, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a photograph because I would have been obstructing traffic.

It was then a short drive through the villages of Budleigh Salterton and Knowle before arriving at Exmouth, where I parked with a view of iron red cliffs to the left and waves crashing on the coastal defences in front of me and off to the right.

All that was left was to stop at the Exeter services on the M5 for some leftover Mushroom paté on Hovis Malted Granary bread, followed by a three hour drive up the M5 and A46.

I have never felt so tired in my life before and it has taken three days to recover, but I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. Next time I will have to make sure we do more walking though, as background reading of the area in preparation for writing this journal has shown there was much more to see than we managed - admittedly due to the weather.

Inventory

• freezer box
  • fork
  • spoon
  • knife
  • plate
  • breakfast cereal
  • apples
  • matches
  • lunchbox
  • 2 x ice cubes
• black bag
  • mosquito repellant
  • camera
  • black zip-up fleece
  • black fleece
  • 2 x Walking Socks
  • 3 x change of clothes
  • swimming costume
  • games
    • Pictionary
    • Jenga
    • Cards
    • Card Games book and cards
  • compass
  • black jeans
  • combat trousers
  • sun block
  • peak cap
  • mixed nuts
  • duvet cover as an inner lining of sleeping bag
  • sun screen
  • mobile phone charger
  • toiletries
  • towel
  • shorts
  • fleece
• car
  • thermal blanket
  • waterproof jacket
  • torch
  • polo poncho
  • small braai
  • rope
  • 1 x tarpaulins
  • 2 x gazebos
  • chairs
    • 2 x Brandt's camping chairs
    • 2 x folding chairs
  • soya milk in flask
  • aluminium container
  • A4 folder
  • table
  • pillow
  • inflatable mattress
  • ground mat
  • thermal hat
  • thermal gloves
  • thermos flast with hot water