Around the sharp corner: the Marine Parade, the beach, the harbour, the Cobb. and another ninety degrees of sea horizon come into view.

As one looks out from Lyme there is a sense of looking into infinity, or at least toward the open Atlantic. Actually, the view ahead is across the Channel, to the nearest part of the continent of Europe; more to the right is the open ocean, no land nearer than America. But where is the dividing point? Well, from measuring on maps I think the answer is as follows. The azimuth to the tip of Brittany, actually the Île d'Ouessant which the British call Ushant, is 214 degrees (180 being south and 270 being west). But the azimuth to Start Point at the southern tip of Devon is 224. Translated to the local map of Lyme, this means that, seen from Bell Cliff, Ushant is in the direction of the tip of the main (shorter) arm of the Cobb, to the left of the harbour mouth; Start Point is in the direction of the landward base of the Cobb. Only in this narrow ten-degree space, seen over the body of the Cobb, are you looking to open ocean—everything over the watery horizon to the right is Devon coast, everything over the longer horizon to the left is France.

Another question arises when a great cloud stands on the horizon, growing upward into a thunderhead, sowing a curtain of drifting rain beneath it. How far off is it? I don't know. I'd like to think it is nearer to France than to Dorset, but I think it is nearer to Dorset.