This lane runs on approximately straight and level. The hill along whose top it runs is called Lyme Hill, and indeed, through the hedge to the left, you can see down over slopes to a scatter of houses which are the inland fringe of Lyme. In old times, when this lane was the main road, travellers along it got only this glimpse of Lyme, unless they turned off toward it at the crossroads you have just passed.

What you have found is, if you are driving a car, a quiet and interesting shortcut from the road out of Lyme to the main road leading in the Axminster direction, known only to local drivers, because the layout of the main roads on the map doesn't emphasize it.

After half a mile the lane twists into a steep, winding descent down the end of the ridge—in fact it's sometimes called the Corkscrew.

Through the hedges you have glimpses sometimes of the valley to the left, sometimes very sharply down to the right, where you may notice the busy highway in its cutting. The lane ends by slipping into the side of this highway.

If you're in a car, you don't dare to make the turn to the right, across the traffic and back into the cutting; you merge into the metallic stream hurrying west.

If on a bike, you might turn around and slog back up Corkscrew Hill, or sigh and turn right, taking the easier and noisier way back along the highway.