Lyme Regis

I hadn't realised, when planning this weekend, quite how close River Cottage HQ and, indeed, our B&B are to Lyme Regis.  I knew they were fairly close but not that they were a matter of a few miles.

So I arranged to meet Farishta for lunch (no, no - to have lunch with Farishta, not to have her for lunch!!) and said we would be along at around about half twelve.  We arranged to meet outside the cinema where she works.

In the meantime, we had to leave the B&B after breakfast.  What to do?

We decided to take a drive along the coast road to Weymouth, passing along some lovely, winding country roads and with some beautiful views of Chesil beach and Lyme Bay.  We came back along the main road from Dorchester, accompanied by a gadzillion motorbikes.  Fortunately, the motorbikes kept going through in Lyme Regis and we pottered off to our usual car park.

We were still a bit early.  But there was lots of walking to do.  And a fish shop to find.  When we were at Millers farmshop on Saturday there was a stall selling shiny, fresh, glistening fish and seafood.  We couldn't get any then - nowhere to keep it cold. (We really, really MUST take the esky with us when we go on foodie weekends.  Or even any weekends.  We so often find delicious things and don't have anywhere to keep them cold.  Likewise the walking shoes.  What use are walking shoes on the steps to the cellar at The Sidings, when you are in Dorset and Devon and out wandering around in fields?)

Fortunately, the bloke said that he would be in his shop by the Cobb in Lyme Regis on Sunday, if we could get to there. And he would have a polybox with ice to keep the fish cold.  And he would store it in his fridge until we wanted to head home.  No worries.  We could easily get to a fish shop by the Cobb.  Not a million miles from where we were meeting Farishta.  But no need, surely, to go all the way back up to the cinema, just to come back down to the harbour, where we had a table booked in a pub for lunch.  We sent her a text message and went off to choose our fish.

Fish and seafood selected, paid for and packed away in the fridge, we went for a wander along the beach and then met Farishta for a windy walk out along the Cobb.  Then lunch in a harbourside pub.  Then we collected the fish and made our way back to the car park.

Now, I know that a weekend of gastronomic delights had not been friendly to our waistlines.  I fully appreciate that all of my summer clothes seem to have shrunk over the winter.  Agreed - the Biobank measurements had indicated a need to lose weight and girth.  But you do have to wonder why Farishta decide to march us up the **STEEPEST** hill in Lyme Regis to get to the car park, The Builder all the while carrying the polybox with 3 or 4 kg of fish and a large bag of ice.  I'll grant you that the views were stunning, when we paused for breath and turned to look back.  I kept thinking that surely we must at some point stop climbing uphill and turn to the right - for our car park is all the way over there, just above the main lot of shops.

Eventually, we got to the top of the hill, where there is an exceedingly large car park.  It turns out that when Farishta had asked us if we were in a particular car park and we said "yes, the usual one, at the top of the hill" - she thought we meant this one.  Nope.  We didn't know it existed.  We meant the one up the hill over the shops.  Oops!!  So down we went, along another road, and then up again - a smaller hill this time.

Oh well - we certainly needed some exercise.  Although The Builder was very puzzled when we finally got home and he found that his leg muscles were very stiff getting out of the car! Farishta is, I think, still laughing :-D

It was good to see Farishta.  Haven't seen her since last Christmas.  She has put her house on the market and is hoping for a move to Chiswick in London in the not too distant future. We are planning a visit to London in December or January to pick up a couple of exhibitions.  We could meet her for lunch then :-)  And I had been wondering what excuse we could find now for a visit to Lyme.  But then I remembered that we don't need an excuse.  We can just go, if we are so minded!

And now we are home.  The chooks were pleased to see us.  Marlo was extremely pleased to see us.  Tammy was not at all pleased to see us.  She had thought we were coming home today and was not a little alarmed to see that our back door was open and there were people making free with our television!

Today we are mostly going to do Sunday things.  I like Sundays so much that I try to have two of them as often as possible!!