Lucky day!

Why lucky? Because when I left, the wet ground was a clue that it had rained last night, night being the time when all rain should fall—and the sky looked like this:



and it was windy. So, was more rain blowing in or was it blowing away? It was blowing away!

First ascent of the day on these decorated steps....and there were quite a few of them:



The local yacht club:




Signage time! I do think that ducks with butterflies on their backs would be a most unusual sight. Alas, no ducks were sighted even without butterflies:




Don't say you were not told!


Especially amusing about that sign is that it was at a golf club car park, but there were no warning signs about stray balls that could land you a nasty blow.

The famous underhill walk about which these graphics warn is not terribly difficult...a few steep climbs, lots of steps, some muddy parts, and no place to exit. What the sign should say is "Don't wear your damn flipflops on this walk!" (Because people do!):





I visited the museum in Lyme Regis where I saw this early model of a............



FIRE ENGINE!

There were lots of exhibits about former town worthies, but I want to tell you about one: Sir George Somers, 1554-1610, who is credited with having "discovered" Bermuda, though that was not his intention. What happened was that In 1609, Sir George was leading an expedition to Virginia to bring supplies to the struggling colony. But his ship was caught in a hurricane as it neared the coast of America. Oh no! He spied some land, but it was the dreaded island of, yes, Bermuda, thought to be in habited by bad spirits, but his ship got hung up on some rocks, so he had no choice but to go ashore. (How, is not clear.) On the island, the crew found fresh water and an abundance of food, especially "fishe, hogges and fowl." (Fish, on land?)

Well, the captain and his men spent ten months on the island, using salvage from their ship and Bermuda cedar and built two ships on which they then set sail to Virginia where they did discover that most of the inhabitants had succumbed to famine or disease. When supplies ran low again, Sir George returned to Bermuda to restock. However, on Nov. 9, 1610, he died of "a surfeit of eating of a pig." (Maybe now, "Don't be a pig," will take on a whole new meaning.) And one other thing: the story of this shipwreck is thought to have inspired the shipwreck in The Tempest. (Maybe, maybe not.)

The beach in Lyme Regis was crowded, mucha mucha gente:




There is a large park with some sculptures. My favorite:


No, not the Mad Hatter. It is actually titled Hareman.

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Location:Lyme Regis