Why this ride
A 206 km round trip from Sidmouth - roughly 4 h 10 in the saddle. It goes by way of Dorset and East Devon Coast, Chesil, Lyme Regis to West Bay and back through Chesil.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks and Lyme Regis to West Bay
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 206 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 10
- 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
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks → 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 28 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 30 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 Dorset and East Devon Coast.
2. 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 comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chesil.
3. 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
about 74 km into the recorded legs you reach Chesil. Next is Lyme Regis to West Bay.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Chesil.
5. back through Chesil
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Chesil sits at 132 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 176 km into the recorded legs. Next is Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks.
7. 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
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks closes the day.
Leg by leg
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks to Dorset and East Devon Coast
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks → Dorset and East Devon Coast is 30 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 Lyme Regis to West Bay
Chesil → Lyme Regis to West Bay is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lyme Regis to West Bay to back through Chesil
Lyme Regis to West Bay → back through Chesil is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chesil to back through Dorset and East Devon Coast
back through 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 Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast → Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Lyme Regis to West Bay and Chesil · 177 km
- River Sid and Chesil · 121 km
- Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks and Chesil (357 km) · 361 km