Lyme Regis

Another day out courtesy of South west Trains special offer, this time to Lyme Regis, a bit further along the coast than Bridport, and a seaside town instead of being a couple of miles inland.

I got the train to Dorchester - or rather train, bus and then train again to Dorchester - and then got a bus to Lyme Regis.   I could have gone into Weymouth and got the bus from there, but it is much quicker to pick it up at Dorchester.

 The bus trip to Lyme Regis would be a bit hair-raising in real winter weather with ice and snow; several times the driver had to change gears a couple of times to get up the hills.   But the scenery was very pretty, with lots of hills and valleys, all very green.

Lyme Regis is different to most seaside towns - it gives the impression of being a bit more upmarket, for a start.   And of course, at this time of year, a lot of places, especially cafes, are closed, and there was hardly anyone on the beach.   Finding somewhere for lunch wasn't as easy as in most places.

Lyme Regis has character.   Set on the Jurassic coast, where fossils are everywhere, it is built on cliffs, and the shoreline used to be much further out than it is today.,   The parish church, set on a cliff, looks as if might one day fall into the sea.   But before it does, it is worth a visit - one of the unusual things about it is that the large font is directly in front of the door.

The museum also is well worth a visit,   Based in the house where the famous eighteenth century palaentologist, Mary Anneley, lived, it is  a fascinating place, not only on the history of Lyme Regis, but also on Mary Anneley, who never married and devoted her life to studying and recording fossils found in the area.   In her time she was recognised as a world expert on fossils - a rare distinction for a woman in that era.

I also went on a tour of the mill, which uses water from the River Lym and which generates its own electricity, feeding any surplus into the National Grid.

I didn't get much of a chance to walk along the beach - the winds were almost gail force, and it was quite cold.   But Lyme Regis is definitely worth a second visit in the summer, when it is warm and dry and you don't need to keep brushing the hair out of your eyesbecause of the wind.