The side-lane comes quite soon to a crossing with another small lane. The crossing is quite complicated: the lane you're on throws off two branches, thus ending in a sort of delta of two islands, as if this were an interchange of high-traffic roads. On one of the islands stands a signpost topped with the name of this spot: "Penn Cross".

The reason is that these once were high-traffic roads. The lane you are on was the direct road from Lyme to the hinterland. The lane crossing it was the high road along the country, leading west into Devon and east into Dorset. (This particular bit of it happens to slant more southeast-northwest, but that doesn't matter.) There was a time when horses and carriages turned the corner on your left, going to and from Axminster, and the corner on your right, going to and from Bridport.

So now you can choose any of these three once major ways, now neglected lanes, left, ahead, or right.