Saturday, June 15, 2013

Explore the Jurassic Coast

We have looked forward to this trip for months ... a relaxing weekend with good friends at a charming country B&B, exploring the tranquil and picturesque fishing villages along the eastern Devon coastline and.....



the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site and Brandon's Fossil Walk!
I know, "How do you find these things?"
This time Tim and Sandra lead the way!




We took the train from London Waterloo to Axminster and checked into this adorable B&B in Uplyme -
HEDGEHOG CORNER
http://www.hedgehogcorner.co.uk/breakfast



Meet Joy, the owner .... what a delightful woman!  She is a long time friend of the Eddy's and we enjoyed getting to know her and listening to her hilarious stories about being an "Inn keeper". 
She cheerfully greeted us each morning with a fantastic English breakfast including freshly baked gluten free bread and homemade jams. Sandra enjoyed her kippers!  

All decked out in our best mud-rucking clothes we headed for the harbour of Lyme Regis where we met our guide, Brandon for a description of the fossils we were looking for.  He explained that the cliffs in this area are constantly crumbling and slipping into the sea, revealing fossils 180 MILLION years old. 
The ones I was most intrigued by were the spiral shaped ammonites, looking a bit like a nautilus.  





Brandon taught us how to explore the rock pools and sift through the fools gold.....


I am happy to report that according to Brandon I found a perfect specimen of two Ammonites back to back .... and one day my girls will inherit it and think, "What are we going to do with this teeny tiny 180 million year old snail?" 

I thought the same thing, so we purchased a bigger one at the fossil store - for Dad's desk! 


And it is very cool!!!


Our day was not complete without a walk up the road from the Hedgehog Corner to the local pub for a pint of cider .... no sidewalks, can't be too careful!   
Mud rucking is hard work!  











4 comments:

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

Funny!
Y'all do know how to have a good time!!

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

This thing always tricks me by saying that I have typed in the wrong robot word... so I do it again.
Only to find out that it took it the first time!

A Tale of Two Cities said...

Another adventure for the memory books! Looks like it was a lot of fun!