Lyme Regis, United Kingdom

Rank : 9.0 (average on 1 votes)

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Coordinates : 50.720741, -2.937455 (Open in Google Maps)

Subjects : Lyme Regis is one of the gems of the Dorset/Devon World Heritage 'Jurassic Coast'. It is also a very attractive coastal/fishing town with a wonderful harbour wall, known as The Cobb, which you can walk along, if the weather doesn't throw up waves high enough to crash over it - and you!The cliffs above and around Lyme Regis are quite unstable, meaning that with every spell of bad weather, cliff falls create a haven for fossil hunters as the originator of many of the first ever dinosaur remnants found in the entire world were found by Mary Anning (1799-1847). She created the activity of fossil hunting and sold them, as she had no other income. Her findings heavily influenced Charles Darwin and his famous theories. But being a woman, she shunned by experts at the time and only recently has she received the acclaim she deserves. This means that the beaches to east and west of Lyme are forever changing and offer a wonderful source for photographs, but often are difficult to walk along and prone to weather and tides, so not for those unable to safely undertake such.

Recommended equipment : Gear for landscapes, but generally tough landscapes, unless you only want a gentle walk and take holiday type photos. Even in summer, you'll need stout footwear and perhaps waterproof clothing for the beaches I mention above.

Best months : Being a seaside town with a sandy beach (small) and plenty of shops, bars and restaurants and very pretty too, Lyme gets busy in summer. For me, this would also be the most boring time.Winter is probably too unreliable as far as weather and daylight hours are concerned. I expect many of the service for visitors would be closed then too.Lyme Regis, like all coastal landscapes benefit from "interesting" weather, to create some drama, so spring and autumn might be best for that.

How to get there : The A35 primary road that runs west from Bournemouth and other towns near or on the south coast runs right into Lyme Regis. If, like me, you can only get there by train, the main London to Exeter (via Salisbury) trains stops at Axminster, after which there's an hourly bus service (taking 30 minutes) into Lyme Regis. Buses are timed to link with the hourly trains, but could be delayed if the roads were busy in summer.

Visits : Lyme Regis Museum is (I've yet to visit) near the town centre and only about 5 Euros, so could well be a good place to visit, especially if it's raining.Possibly more for younger visitors, there's the Marine Aquarium, located at the end of the Cobb, mid March to start of November. About 8 Euros.There are also many Fossil Walks which should be interesting if, like me, you don't know what you actually be looking at while on the beach!

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