Charmouth

Our destination this weekend is Wood Farm Charmouth, an affiliated site to both the Caravan Club and the Camping and Caravaning club. The site is hilly and lies on the side of the busy A35 a dual carriage way, just 2 miles from Lyme Regis and 1 mile from Charmouth. This is the Jurassic  Coast. So togged up with all the Indiana gear we are away to see the Dinosaurs!! Missed them, by 3 million years, well that was clumsy. Best throw away the hat and whip ( can’t think of any other use for them ). After a successful pitch up, we have some lunch before setting off to Charmouth, just down the road. The Coastal Path has been diverted due to slippage, which is evident as we arrive down on the Beach, there are a lot of people digging for fossils. Small Amenities are all that is left ( the bigger bones, long since taken by large dogs or Pterodactyls, I expect this was once a fish and chip shop for Tyrannosaurus's. I jest). It starts to rain ( what a surprise), so we head back to the campsite for a cup of tea and our Dinner.

The Coastal Path to Lyme Regis has also been diverted, inland from the Cliff to cross the Golf course. The views though are fantastic; to the east, Golden Cap and stretching into the distance Chesil Beach and Weymouth. To the west the Town of Lyme Regis and its small harbour ( the Cobb, made famous by the film French Lieutenants Woman “Meryl Streep” ).

	We lunch on a bench in a Park with a view of the Cobb and the Jurassic Coast. The sun is shining, it is very warm and people are swimming in the Sea…….
On our journey back up the very steep hill, we stop to look inside the Church. This is the resting place of the Towns famous Victorian geologist, Mary Anning who found a complete skeleton of a Plesiosaur. We climbed back over the Golf and spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sun with a cup of tea.

We are going fossil hunting today! We breakfast on scrambled egg and bacon. I raid the gas locker for the hammer, whilst Lesley packs her bag and readies her self, “they will all be gone! by the time we get there if you don’t hurry I say”, they are extinct I remind myself………..

The Town of Charmouth is very small and way past being important, long before the bypass was built. Tourist head straight down to the beach, as do we armed with a hammer to crack open the rocks.

Hack away as we might we find nothing, no whoops of delight can be heard anywhere along the entire length of the beach. The fossil shop is doing a roaring trade (rip off) selling hammers to gullible amateur would be geologists  . The Heritage centre is in on the deal, flaunting masses of Ammonites and dinosaurs ( all imports, I bet) with information boards suggesting that a lot of finds have been made in Lyme Bay. Unfortunately, we have not found any thing remotely interesting. Its 1’oclock, so its time for lunch. We find a sandy spot to enjoy a cup of tea and a sandwich . We are entertained watching fellow adventurers whacking any old rock they picked up, all in a vain attempt to discover a fossil inside. Our journey back to the campsite (all uphill) was steady, the sun still shining as we arrived and spent the rest of the afternoon dozing.                                                                                       Slide show