Lyme Regis

"After securing accommodations, and ordering a dinner at one of the inns, the next thing to be done was unquestionably to walk directly down to the sea. They were come too late in the year for any amusement or variety which Lyme, as a public place, might offer. The rooms were shut up, the lodgers almost all gone, scarcely any family but of the residents left; and, as there is nothing to admire in the buildings themselves, the remarkable situation of the town, the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay, which, in the season, is animated with bathing machines and company; the Cobb itself, its old wonders and new improvements, with the very beautiful line of cliffs stretching out to the east of the town, are what the stranger's eye will seek; and a very strange stranger it must be, who does not see charms in the immediate environs of Lyme, to make him wish to know it better." Persuasion, Jane Austen

On a dark and stormy morning Mike and I set off to enjoy the seaside pleasures of Lyme Regis. The girls took one look outside and declared that they'd stay at the rental. 

Yes, our visit may have been inspired by Jane Austen, but it also happened to be the closest seaside town to where we were staying. So really, not too fan-crazy at all.

 You may think me strange, but I love the rocks on English beaches. I think they're so pretty.

Of course I had to see the Cobb where Louisa from Persuasion had her dramatic fall. 

There was too much wind to make the high part of the new Cobb pleasant for the ladies, and they agreed to get down the steps to the lower, and all were contented to pass quietly and carefully down the steep flight, excepting Louisa; she must be jumped down them by Captain Wentworth. In all their walks, he had had to jump her from the stiles; the sensation was delightful to her. The hardness of the pavement for her feet, made him less willing upon the present occasion; he did it, however. She was safely down, and instantly, to show her enjoyment, ran up the steps to be jumped down again. He advised her against it, thought the jar too great; but no, he reasoned and talked in vain, she smiled and said, “I am determined I will:” he put out his hands; she was too precipitate by half a second, she fell on the pavement on the Lower Cobb, and was taken up lifeless! - Chapter 12

Standing on the Cobb, I could better understand how such an accident might occur. It was so windy! I made a comical scene, kind of like those slow-motion mechanical grocery cart chair races, trying to retrieve a dropped camera cap. It was slowly rolling around in the wind across the wet and slippery stone, while I, even slower, carefully followed it about, all the while afraid I'd soon fall into the stormy sea. Mike had me abandon my quest, which I happily did. Even happier, just before the cap rolled off into the sea, a big gust of wind blew it back to a stop safely on the Cobb. Phew. 


Lyme Regis has so much going for it - dramatic cliffs, cute town, picturesque port, nice restaurants and shops, literary tie-in - that having good weather on top of it all might really be asking too much.