A Walk Through Time on Lyme’s Fossil Beach

The day before I properly explored Lyme Regis town itself, I found myself down by the shoreline doing something I’d never really done before; fossil hunting. Not in the serious, hammer-and-chisel sense that proper enthusiasts do, but in the gentle, curious way of someone who just wants to walk and look and see what turns up beneath their feet.

I started around Chippel Bay and made my way along what’s famously known as Lyme Regis’ fossil beach. I’d heard about it before, of course. Anyone who’s even vaguely interested in natural history will have come across Lyme’s reputation as one of the best places in the world to find fossils just lying around, casually embedded in stones as if they were placed there for decorative purposes.

It’s quite surreal when you see it for yourself. What's even more amazing is that there's a lot more of it still in the ground. Every time there's a landslide, there's opportunity for new fossils to be unearthed.

You look down at what appears to be an ordinary rock and realise there’s the perfect spiral of an ammonite staring back at you. Not behind glass in a museum. Not in a textbook. Just there in the ground. As though the Jurassic period politely left behind souvenirs for anyone curious enough to notice. In fact, they're so abundant and easy to to find that it got me wondering if indeed they were placed there by someone for us to find. Sort of a natural museum of sorts.

The beach itself is a mixture of pebbles, stone slabs, and those slightly unstable sections that make you walk slower than usual, watching where you place your feet. The cliffs tower above you in that dramatic Dorset way; beautiful, but also quietly reminding you that rockfalls are a real thing here and not just warning signs for decoration.

I walked slowly, stopping often, scanning the ground like a detective looking for clues. Every few steps there was something worth pausing for. Some fossils were bold and obvious, others faint and subtle, half-hidden in the rock. It turns the whole walk into a kind of treasure hunt, except the treasure is 200 million years old and nobody is trying to take it from you.

Eventually I made my way as far as the Ammonite Pavement, which is exactly as impressive as it sounds. Large stone slabs littered with fossilised ammonites, clearly visible without any effort at all. It almost feels unfair. You spend your life seeing fossils in museums and then suddenly you’re standing on them like paving stones.

I stood there for a while just looking at it, trying to process the scale of time. These patterns were once living creatures swimming in prehistoric seas, and now they’re part of the floor beneath my shoes. It’s one of those quietly mind-bending moments that sneaks up on you.

On the walk back, I headed to the visitors centre and museum. After seeing the fossils in their natural setting, it was quite satisfying to go inside and read about what I’d just been walking over. The exhibits explain the history of the area, the famous fossil hunters like Mary Anning, and how Lyme Regis became such an important site for palaeontology. It added context to what had already been a fascinating walk.

By the time I left, I felt like I’d accidentally taken a stroll through deep time without planning to. Not bad for a casual seaside walk. I grabbed a cup of coffee at the cafe situated on the ground floor of the building and sat outside for a while sipping and observing.

I headed back to my accommodation feeling pleasantly tired, with that particular kind of mental quiet you get after spending hours just observing things. No rush, no agenda; just stones, sea air, and ancient spirals underfoot.

Peace & Love,

Adé