Why this ride
A 361 km round trip from Sidmouth - roughly 7 h 02 in the saddle. The stops in between: Lyme Regis to West Bay, Portland Harbour Shore, Dorset and East Devon Coast and Chesil. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks and Chesil
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 361 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 02
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Portland Harbour Shore → Dorset and East Devon Coast
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 53 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 53 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
Where the Otter meets the sea near Budleigh Salterton, the cliffs turn red. This is the start of the Jurassic Coast, the stretch of Dorset and East Devon coast that UNESCO listed in 2001 because the cliffs tell a continuous story of 185 million years. At the eastern end, at Orcombe Point in Exmouth, a stone sculpture called the Geoneedle marks the beginning, and from there the rocks run from the red sandstones of the Triassic towards the white chalk of the east. The section between Orcombe Rocks and Chit Rocks is the oldest, a wall of red cliff, sandy beach and sea stacks that look as if they were painted.
Read the complete Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks is where the day begins. Next is Lyme Regis to West Bay.
2. Lyme Regis to West Bay
The cliffs between Lyme Regis and West Bay are falling into the sea, and that is precisely why people come. This stretch of the Dorset coast is part of the Jurassic Coast, England's first natural World Heritage Site, and its soft clay and limestone cliffs constantly release fossils from the Jurassic seas of around two hundred million years ago. Ammonites, belemnites and the bones of marine reptiles wash out onto the beaches after every storm, and at Charmouth you will see families combing the shingle with hammers and bags at low tide.
Read the complete Lyme Regis to West Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lyme Regis to West Bay comes up about 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is Portland Harbour Shore.
3. Portland Harbour Shore
Portland Harbour is one of the largest man made harbours in the world, enclosed by breakwaters built in the nineteenth century, partly by convict labour, from Portland stone quarried on the island above. For over a century it was a major Royal Navy base, and today it is a centre for sailing, windsurfing and kite surfing; the sailing events of the 2012 London Olympics were held here. The shore between Weymouth and Portland, with Chesil Beach stretching away to the west, is a fascinating place to explore.
Read the complete Portland Harbour Shore write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Portland Harbour Shore. Next is Dorset and East Devon Coast.
4. Dorset and East Devon Coast
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.
Read the complete Dorset and East Devon Coast write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dorset and East Devon Coast, about halfway. Next is Chesil.
5. Chesil
Twenty-nine kilometres of shingle, piled high and steep and running almost dead straight from West Bay to the Isle of Portland: Chesil Beach is one of the great natural oddities of the English coast. Behind it lies the Fleet, a long, shallow, brackish lagoon full of eelgrass and birds, and the whole system is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The pebbles grade in size along the beach, small as peas at the western end and as big as potatoes towards Portland, so precisely that smugglers landing on dark nights were said to know where they were by the feel of the stones.
Read the complete Chesil write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chesil sits at 179 km, about halfway. Next is back through Dorset and East Devon Coast.
6. back through Dorset and East Devon Coast
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dorset and East Devon Coast write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast comes up about 224 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Portland Harbour Shore.
7. back through Portland Harbour Shore
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Portland Harbour Shore write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 277 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Portland Harbour Shore. Next is back through Lyme Regis to West Bay.
8. back through Lyme Regis to West Bay
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lyme Regis to West Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Lyme Regis to West Bay, late in the day. Next is Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks.
9. Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 361 km.
Leg by leg
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks to Lyme Regis to West Bay
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks → Lyme Regis to West Bay is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lyme Regis to West Bay to Portland Harbour Shore
Lyme Regis to West Bay → Portland Harbour Shore is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Portland Harbour Shore to Dorset and East Devon Coast
Portland Harbour Shore → Dorset and East Devon Coast is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dorset and East Devon Coast to Chesil
Dorset and East Devon Coast → Chesil is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chesil to back through Dorset and East Devon Coast
Chesil → back through Dorset and East Devon Coast is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast to back through Portland Harbour Shore
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast → back through Portland Harbour Shore is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Portland Harbour Shore to back through Lyme Regis to West Bay
back through Portland Harbour Shore → back through Lyme Regis to West Bay is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lyme Regis to West Bay to Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
back through Lyme Regis to West Bay → Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.