Three hours by train from London Waterloo Station. While occasionally glancing at the tranquil rural scenery passing by outside the window, I thoroughly prepared with "The Adventures of Mary Anning" that I had brought along. After a 30-minute bus ride from the nearest station, Axminster, I saw the sea below a hill, and finally arrived at Lyme Regis, the mecca of marine reptile fossils. I first checked into "Honyanoyado", a guesthouse run by a Japanese woman that I found online. It was lunchtime, but I was told, "If you're going to the coast, now's the time." Upon further inquiry, I learned that the path to the fossil-bearing outcrop becomes submerged by waves if you miss the low tide, which lasts for about two hours before and after noon. So, I put off eating and headed straight for the outcrop called Black Ven.

Despite being the middle of winter, the sun was strong enough to make me sweat, and the waves were calm. I had half-expected the opening scene of the movie "The French Lieutenant's Woman", set in this area, where "the wind howls and rough waves crash against the pier," so this was a pleasant surprise. After about a 15-minute walk along the receding shoreline, I arrived at Black Ven. It's a place like this. When I picked up some loose rocks, I found an ammonite surprisingly quickly! I collected two that day and, having acquired a taste for it, returned the next day. In a total of about 3 and a half hours, I got 4 ammonites, 2 brachiopods (?), and, luckily, a partial fish fossil. It was an unexpected haul. However, considering that the area is full of huge ammonites eroded by the waves, it's probably to be expected...

Now, in this small town, which seems like you could walk through it in about 10 minutes, there are four fossil shops, one museum, a small shop selling miniatures of dinosaurs and space objects (they even had Japanese "shokugan" dinosaur figures), and "Dinosaurland", which I heard from my inn was for kids and ended up not entering, so its true nature remains unknown. The town's main street is a sloping road of only about 200-300m leading down to the sea. In the middle of it is the largest fossil shop, "The Old Forge Fossil Shop". The window displayed skeletal models from the Favorite Collection. Here, I bought an ichthyosaur magnet (the fin fossil is great! Photo 1) and some tasteful postcards (Photo 2). Going down the hill, turning left at the sea, there's "The Lyme Regis Fossil Shop", which was selling a magnificent ichthyosaur skull from the area, though missing its rostrum, for about 500,000 yen. All I could do was look on enviously.

The other two fossil shops were like small souvenir shops and had nothing particularly noteworthy. The "Philpot Museum" by the sea, though small, had quite a few interesting exhibits, including materials related to Mary. In one corner, there was a display case with old picture books and toys (Photo 3). Unfortunately, there was only one original museum souvenir, a ruler with Mary depicted on it (Photo 4). I'd really like to see Favorite make a figure of Mary in this pose.
I was only able to stay one night in Lyme Regis this time, but I hope to stay longer someday and immerse myself in fossils. The ammonite streetlights were very charming (Photo 5).

Finally, a very brief report on the Natural History Museum in London (formerly the British Museum of Natural History).

Highlights: I was astounded by the vast collection of marine reptiles covering an entire wall. It's a bit problematic that the ceiling is too high to see the specimens at the top (Photos 6, 7). The dinosaur exhibition was mediocre. I didn't get to see the actual London specimen of Archaeopteryx.

Shop Information: The old and established British Museum 1/45 series of dinosaur models was out of print, and a small number were being sold off at a discount. It's sad, given their excellent craftsmanship. If you find them in Japan, buy them immediately, as they are still available there. I also bought a 17cm blue whale with the British Museum engraving for only 1 pound (about 250 yen) (Photo 8).

Pterosaur (Photo 9): It was casually mixed in among the animal sculptures decorating the exterior walls of the museum. This pterosaur flies around London in the recently published novel "Stoneheart" (!).