The fourth post about our week in the town. (You’ll find the start of the series of five posts here.) Post 2 here, post 3 here.

Tuesday followed a night of heavy rain, so we decided against our planned walk into the surrounding countryside as probably being too muddy to enjoy.

Instead, we walked into Lyme along the roads until we reached Lister Gardens, a wide-open park with various different features, among them a mini-golf area. We’ve always enjoyed that simple and daft activity, so we handed over our £3 each, collected the clubs and balls, and set off along the course. Ahead of us was a group of teenage boys, one in a wheelchair, so we took our time to avoid harassing them. It was a fun activity and we both had a mix of failures and a ‘hole in one’. Couldn’t recall who ‘won’. Valerie is far better at sport than me and has a better memory, and she says I won by 1, which is a surprise!

We then walked across the sands to examine a set of three cannons sited on an isolated part of the sea wall.

From there across the famous Cobb to Monmouth Beach and along to the stony stretch of shore that sits along the crumbling Undercliff.

Here, we looked at various rocks in the hope we might spot a fossil, since this is the area famous for such finds.

We did come across a few large rocks with numerous fossil ammonites embedded and worn by the waves, but didn’t discover anything we could take home with us.

There were other hunters around, armed with their proper hammers and chisels, attacking likely looking rocks to expose their hidden contents.

We returned along the beach in front of the beach huts and found a place selling coffee and cakes.

We had our drinks and scones with clotted cream and jam; very tasty!

We then walked back through the park area and along the roads to check out Antonio’s Trattoria, where we hoped to eat that evening.

It wasn’t open, but we found out enough to decide on a visit for dinner. Back to the holiday cottage for showers and a relax.

Early evening, the riverside path again took us to Church Street and the Italian restaurant. The young lady who greeted us asked if we’d booked. We hadn’t. Antonio himself approached and offered us a table for two. The food here was very good and the Prosecco reasonably priced and good quality. The deserts were delicious, too! And we completed our meal with liquor coffees. The atmosphere was the friendly, quiet, welcoming type we most enjoy, so we booked there and then for our final night, Thursday.

The walk back along the riverside path was now a familiar route and took us away from traffic.

The final post in this series will follow shortly.