Cumberlidge On Cruising

PETER CUMBERLIDGE: Why not stay at home in good old England for some relaxed summer cruising? Lyme Bay and Dorset’s Jurassic Coast are blessed with many enticing small harbours and anchorages

- Peter Cumberlidge

Boats based in south Devon tend to head either further west for their summer cruising or cross to the Channel Islands and Brittany. We rarely think about turning east, which is a pity. I plan to rectify this, and have been studying our charts of Lyme Bay and the Dorset coast beyond Portland.

To many, Lyme Bay feels like a hurdle you cross to get somewhere else, yet its inner shores have some charming hideaways. From Dartmouth, it’s less than 30 miles to a picturesque anchorage behind Beer Head, the most westerly of the Jurassic Coast’s chalk bluffs. Beer is still a traditional fishing village, with crabbing and mackerel boats winched up the beach. We once lay here several days in a hard north-westerly, totally snug with the Anchor Inn handy ashore.