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| Orchids thrive on the other side of the chasm | Orchids thrive on the other side of the chasm |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Goat Island, East Devon After trotting through coastal scrub, the path abruptly writhes and plunges into dark shadow | |
| Sara Hudston | |
| Thu 29 Jun 2017 05.30 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 21.02 GMT | |
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| A hot day on the South West Coast Path between Axmouth and Lyme Regis. The quivering air smells warmly of bracken. Gorse pods snap sharply, flinging their seeds into the tangled undergrowth. | A hot day on the South West Coast Path between Axmouth and Lyme Regis. The quivering air smells warmly of bracken. Gorse pods snap sharply, flinging their seeds into the tangled undergrowth. |
| After trotting easily through coastal scrub, the path abruptly writhes and plunges into the dark shadow of the chasm. This is the undercliff, a wooded no-man’s land between clifftop and shoreline, formed by a continuous cycle of landslips. | After trotting easily through coastal scrub, the path abruptly writhes and plunges into the dark shadow of the chasm. This is the undercliff, a wooded no-man’s land between clifftop and shoreline, formed by a continuous cycle of landslips. |
| It’s the wildest place on the south coast, an abandoned, tumbled landscape of gothic savagery, unstable and inaccessible. According to the novelist John Fowles it is “the nearest this country can offer to a tropical jungle”. | It’s the wildest place on the south coast, an abandoned, tumbled landscape of gothic savagery, unstable and inaccessible. According to the novelist John Fowles it is “the nearest this country can offer to a tropical jungle”. |
| The chasm was created on Christmas Day 1839 when a massive section of cliff nearly a mile long subsided towards the sea, isolating a block of land known as Goat Island. Witnesses reported “flashes of fire and a strong smell of sulphur”. | The chasm was created on Christmas Day 1839 when a massive section of cliff nearly a mile long subsided towards the sea, isolating a block of land known as Goat Island. Witnesses reported “flashes of fire and a strong smell of sulphur”. |
| The Great Landslip drew thousands of sightseers. A pamphlet claimed it was the fulfilment of a prophecy in the Book of Revelation. Queen Victoria viewed it from the royal yacht and Ricardo Linter composed his Landslip Quadrille, which was played on the paddle steamers that plied the coast. | The Great Landslip drew thousands of sightseers. A pamphlet claimed it was the fulfilment of a prophecy in the Book of Revelation. Queen Victoria viewed it from the royal yacht and Ricardo Linter composed his Landslip Quadrille, which was played on the paddle steamers that plied the coast. |
| To reach the island today, you climb the steps out of the chasm and emerge on a tilted tabletop of chalk grassland that slopes beguilingly towards a sheer edge. | To reach the island today, you climb the steps out of the chasm and emerge on a tilted tabletop of chalk grassland that slopes beguilingly towards a sheer edge. |
| Orchids thrive here: pointy magenta hats of pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis) vie with the mauve, frilly, dusters of common spotted orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii). The bee orchids (Ophrys apifera) have finished flowering and their sturdy brown stems are clustered with ridged, cylindrical seed cases like mini marrows. At the meadow’s shaded edge, I’m lucky to find a lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia), its fragile, greeny-white flowers frazzled by heat. | Orchids thrive here: pointy magenta hats of pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis) vie with the mauve, frilly, dusters of common spotted orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii). The bee orchids (Ophrys apifera) have finished flowering and their sturdy brown stems are clustered with ridged, cylindrical seed cases like mini marrows. At the meadow’s shaded edge, I’m lucky to find a lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia), its fragile, greeny-white flowers frazzled by heat. |
| It’s tempting to see Goat Island as a place marooned in time. But nearly 200 years ago this meadow was planted with wheat and turnips. That great landslip destroyed its agricultural potential and set it adrift on a paradoxical new course. The ground could move again at any time, and yet, for wildlife, it’s this instability that guarantees its future. | It’s tempting to see Goat Island as a place marooned in time. But nearly 200 years ago this meadow was planted with wheat and turnips. That great landslip destroyed its agricultural potential and set it adrift on a paradoxical new course. The ground could move again at any time, and yet, for wildlife, it’s this instability that guarantees its future. |
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