Jurassic Coast - Sidmouth

I left Exmouth along the South West Coast Path, a long-distance trail spanning the southwest of England. The Jurassic Coast makes up a portion of this path. As I passed the holiday resort in Sandy Bay, I had my first striking view of the ochre-coloured cliffs rising sharply from the sea. This was the type of coastline I travelled all the way to Sidmouth.

To explain how these cliffs formed, I need to wind back the clock a few million years when the continents were joined together in a single supercontinent called Pangaea, and Britain was in the centre landlocked. In the Triassic period (251-200 mya), southern Britain was about 20 degrees north of the equator. Today, it is around 50 degrees. Initially, the climate was seasonally strong, almost monsoonal, but later the middle of Pangaea became very hot and desert-like. It was during this period that the Triassic section of the Jurassic Coast was formed, where the rocks consist of ferric iron oxide minerals. This type of mineral contains iron and oxygen, and when the iron in the rock mixes with oxygen, it reacts and creates this reddish-brown colour seen in the cliff face. This type of deposit is referred to as New Red Sandstone, a combination of sandstone, mudstone and conglomerates, which are rocks made of rounded pebbles and large stones cemented together.

Erosion, heavy rainfalls, and changes in the rock layers impact the cliffs, making them crumbly and fragile. For instance, east of Sandy Bay is an area called "The Floors", where the cliffs formed a series of levels after several landslides. So instead of having a smooth surface, the cliffs have distinct horizontal shelves. As these shelves occur at different heights, they end up with a stepped or terraced-like appearance. These features help geologists learn about the prehistory of the area.

Past Sandy Bay was the delightful village of Budleigh Salterton, which is known for two main things. Firstly, it is the birthplace of Sir Walter Raleigh (c1554), a soldier, writer, explorer and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. He led numerous expeditions on the queen's behalf, including to South America's fabled city of gold, El Dorado. When he was imprisoned by King James I in the Tower of London for treason, he wrote the book "The History of the World". Unfortunately, he met an untimely death by beheading.

The second thing Budleigh Salterton is known for is the shingle beach and the red-stained cliffs brimming with pebbles that were washed down from an ancient mountain range that has since vanished. Studying the cliffs up close, I can see the tough quartzite pebbles embedded in the much softer mudstone. Dating these rocks was made possible by the fossil discovery of 'the Devon rhynchosaur', an ancient herbivorous reptile. Its distinctive feature was an elongated snout that resembled a bird's beak.

As I continued my journey to Sidmouth, I marvelled at the terrific display of New Red Sandstone in the sea stacks at Ladram Bay, where the layers of red sediment compressed over millions of years were topped with green vegetation.

Walking the promenade at Sidmouth afforded me spectacular views of the English Channel, the surrounding cliffs and delightful Regency buildings. In the early 1800s, the town was a safe haven from creditors for the Duke and Duchess of Kent and their baby daughter, the future Queen Victoria. They stayed in the charming Woolbrook Cottage, known today as the Royal Glen Hotel.

Fun fact: Did you know that at one time, Great Britain was in the southern hemisphere, and it was largely submerged? We just need to roll back 514 million years to the Late Cambrian age.


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