Sidmouth cliffs

Its been a fairly sunny but cold day and I have been out for most of it.  I started with a cycle class at the gym and afterwards met up with a friend in Exmouth for a coffee.  It was good to catch up with her as it had been some time since we last met.

I was back home for a quick lunch before heading off to Sidmouth with my neighbour.  We are both in the same U3A geology group and they had decided on a quick outdoor visit to Sidmouth.  Although I know the area I hadn't looked in much detail at the geology.  We looked in detail at the  red sandstone cliffs below the Connaught gardens where layers with sand dune shapes are visible.  Spotted an area where plant growth resulted in a change of rock colour and found a large roundish shape with a line going upwards at an angle that was speculated as possibly being a burrow for an ancient animal.  We walked back to the eastern most point where from where todays blip was taken.  Here you can see the red Sidmouth Mudstones which are being rapidly eroded.  The darker areas are where water is trickling out at lower levels.  Beyond this are the Greensand hills of Salcombe and the furthest east the Chalk formations around Beer.  There are constant cliff falls at this end of Sidmouth and it is thought that the introduction of two rock islands at the other end of the beach resulted in this enhanced cliff erosion.  There are plans to build two more islands in the area here to mitigate this but it will probably result in erosion even further east.

An interesting day out.