The cliffs around Lyme Regis are made of dark, crumbling clay and shale, and every winter storm brings some of them down. That is why fossil hunters love them. In the early nineteenth century a local girl named Mary Anning, the daughter of a carpenter, found the skeleton of an ichthyosaur on the beach and went on to unearth some of the first plesiosaurs, earning a grudging place in a scientific world that did not welcome women. The ammonites, fossil crinoids and sea-reptile bones that still turn up here are nearly two hundred million years old, and the whole coast from Exmouth to Studland, the Jurassic Coast, was listed by UNESCO in 2001 for its record of Earth history.
This part of the coast lies at the border of Dorset and Devon, near Axmouth and the Undercliffs, a wild wooded strip of landslip where ash and ivy have grown over the slumped cliffs and walkers get lost in a green jungle. Lyme Regis, a small harbour town of under five thousand people, has a curved stone breakwater called the Cobb, which appears in Jane Austen's Persuasion and in the film of The French Lieutenant's Woman. Charmouth, a little way east, is the place for family fossil hunts on the beach, and you should check the tide tables.
The riding is on small, steep, winding roads that dip into valleys and climb to the ridge. The A35 and A3052 are the main ones, but the best moments are on the narrow lanes with hedges and sunken banks, which can be slippery with mud and leaves. Gradients can be serious, with hairpins down into Lyme Regis, and in summer the roads are packed with caravans, so aim for spring or autumn, or early morning. Sea mist can drift in without warning, so keep a layer in the pannier.
Fuel is in Lyme Regis and Axminster, the market town nine kilometres to the north, which gave its name to a carpet. There are cafes on the harbour front, and fresh crab sandwiches are sold at stalls near the Cobb. Parking in Lyme is awkward, so aim for the edge of town and walk. After rain the cliffs glisten and the beach turns slate-dark, which is the best time to look for fossils.