Day 1, Jurassic coast

Awoke to unpredicted blue sky over the pub with rooms we were staying in, the so-called Eyre Court Hotel. Seaton is a quaint little town, reminiscent of “Bungay” but on sea – pubs just a few steps away from each other and small shops with curiosities.

During breakfast three paramedics in green uniforms and two in red dashed by with another resident in a chair; fortunately there had been no call for “is there a doctor here?” Indeed the smiling patient seemed disproportionately outnumbered.

We had just donned our boots and in (my case) gaiters when Carli surprised us by popping through through the French doors; the landlady was even more surprised! Then, Alex appeared!

As we walked along the front the heavens opened and the first part of the weather prediction of sun and showers was fulfilled.

It was straightforward spotting the sign for the Coast path although the commentary “arduous” in front of 7.5 miles was unexpected.

As we went uphill over the path across the golf course (truly) there was a downpour and it was on with the bright yellow and green waterproof rucksack covers.

The sun emerged again as we reached the entrance to the Undercliff which was formed when on Christmas Eve 1839 an enormous chunk of the cliff fell seawards. At that time there were cottages and sheep grazed pastures. The cottages fell away with the cliff and the mound of earth and remains became overgrown with trees and ferns, a temperate forest reminiscent of New Zealand. There is no record of any deaths and a Landslip Quadrille was composed, and if you come across a performance of this, we’d be interested to hear it.

On our way we heard thunder and 3 seconds later the flash of lightning

After lunch at The Pilot boat Carli and Alex headed back and we headed off towards Charmouth and then the 191 metres Golden Cap.

Not a lot left in our tanks for Seatown on our descent!