You enter an ornamental complex of masonry. It looks like fortifications, but it was built in 197==, to defend the town against the sea and to conceal the new sewage works — for, formerly, the sea was badly in need of defence against the town. One element is a tower ==
Some steps on the right coil invitingly up toward the Marine Theatre.
        Or, keeping forward either along the broad way or by some of the raised routes among the battlements, you come to the bridge over the mouth of the River Lim.



Just past the bridge, there are low stone walls around semi-random spaces — as if someone had started to build a play-house. It's officially called Mariners Square, and in the middle of it lies a huge old anchor (donated by the Portland navy base). Among the walls are steps and benches, and a passage that twists through one of the walls leads to a stair in the direction of the river's actual mouth.
        Or, ahead, you come to the end of the battlement walk and emerge in a wider space.



It is Cobb Gate, which was once really the town's gateway from the sea. Goods were unloaded at the harbour that you see in the distance beside the Cobb, and had to be carted along the beach and into the warehouses that stood here. The space is now nothing but a parking circle.
        From this low viewpoint, the town towers like a town, like a fairytale town. Or like a castle, sprouting out of the Bell Cliff, a triple castle, split by two openings, a high passageway revealing sky and, to the right, a lower (a street) climbing into the thick of this fairytale town.
        You can turn rightward onto the street, so as to choose between those destinations; or keep ahead along the sea front in the direction of the harbour and Cobb. And there's one more option, if you're adventurous and hot and have brought a swimsuit to this seaside resort: down the stone jetty to the left, and jump in!.