Day 10 Sidmouth to Seaton 10.25

Our last day of walking and quite a hard one. It started with a steep hill out of Sidmouth and carried

Sidmouth

 on with several more steep paths on the way to Branscombe. I like to concentrate on the wildflowers when climbing hills as it takes my mind off the difficulty of it.

Between Branscombe and Beer you pass through a landslip area where the cliffs change from red to white, These are the most westerly chalk cliffs in England.

Now I had been looking forward to going to Beer but I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with it. It seemed very regimented right down to the empty rows of deckchairs on the beach.

Beer

We didn't stay there long but pressed on to Seaton where we just had time for a celebratory cream tea (The only one on this trip) and a quick paddle for Margaret before catching the bus to Exeter.

Seaton's very pebbly beach

We stayed overnight in Exeter and caught a morning train back home. We were a bit lucky because Northern Trains were on strike but some trains were running as normal and ours was one of them.

We were extremely lucky with the weather on this trip and are hoping for more good weather in September when we return to walk the final section.

Day 9 Exmouth to Sidmouth 12.5

Now Margaret had the foresight to ask our bus driver yesterday if the bus from Sidmouth to Exmouth was running today. He consulted the oracle and declared yes it was, so we had a leisurely breakfast and sat on the seafront for a while until 10.30 when the bus was due. There were about a dozen people waiting for this bus which only runs three times a day in each direction. The timetable on the bus stop confirmed that there would be a bus at 10.30. By 11 0'clock the only buses turning up were going to Exeter or Seaton. Once again Margaret asked the driver of the Seaton bus if the Exmouth bus was running today. He consulted a different oracle that confirmed this service doesn't start until 27 May. Stagecoach your lack of information is awful. A simple notice on the timetable would have prevented many people's plans being ruined. A group of four people also walking the SWCP tried to get a taxi but taxi drivers in Sidmouth are practically non-existent.
Our day was saved by a lovely Danish lady now resident in Sidmouth who advised us to go to Exeter on the next bus due in five minutes and then told us where to get off so that we could catch the next bus to Exmouth. Phew, what a morning.
We did eventually set off walking in Exmouth at 1.00 p.m.

It was a hot Bank Holiday Monday and the 2 mile seafront was heavily populated with holidaymakers enjoying themselves. It was quite a relief to climb up on to the cliff top and eat our lunch by the Geoneedle monument.

This marks the beginning of the Jurassic coast, a World Heritage Site, that runs for 95 miles between Exmouth and Studland Bay, the rest of our walk in fact.
A large caravan park rather spoilt the feeling of being away from it all before we arrived at the charming village of Budleigh Salterton where we stopped for a welcome cup of tea and piece of cake.

Hottentot-fig

You often see these flowers, native of S. Africa, growing on the cliffs in Devon and Cornwall.
The path leaves the cliffs at this point as you have to get over the River Otter which involves a 1 mile diversion inland.

River Otter

The cliffs are very red round this part of Devon and very spectacular at Ladram Bay.

Ladram Bay

There were two big climbs at High Peak and Peak Hill before arriving in Sidmouth at Jacob's Ladder,

Sidmouth

Jacob's Ladder

It was 7.30 in the evening when we eventually arrived in Sidmouth due to our late start so we went straight to the pub for a welcome meal to end the day.

Day 8 Shaldon to Starcross 8

Another bright and sunny day. We were so lucky with the weather even though it was a bit hot for walking. Quite a leisurely day today as we both caught the bus to Shaldon leaving Margaret with a 7 mile gap to fill in in September.
Then another ferry across the River Teign to Teignmouth.

Time to bag another pier, well half a one anyway as half of it it was closed.

Teignmouth Pier

Then a walk along beside the railway. Now if you've ever been on the train down to South Devon or Cornwall you will have travelled on this spectacular railway line that runs close to the sea. So close that it got washed away at Dawlish in February 2014 after a severe storm struck the south west of England. The coastal path was also washed away at that time but thankfully the sea wall has been rebuilt and provides a nice flat section between Teignmouth and Dawlish.

The train runs through a series of tunnels but the path passes under the line before Dawlish and lo and behold there is a lovely snack bar, The Salty Dog Kiosk' What a brilliant place and so unexpected. Just right for coffee or an ice cream.

Dawlish

Now if it hadn't been Bank Holiday and it had been the end of May or later we could have caught the ferry across to Exmouth and a bus to Sidmouth, our next place to stay, but as it was we had to walk up to Starcross, catch a bus to Exeter and then another bus to Sidmouth. A good job it had been a shorter walk today. We did get to Sidmouth eventually which is a lovely place with plenty of shops and so many banks you wouldn't believe it. It also had a good pub 'The Anchor' that served good inexpensive meals and the staff were very friendly.

Day 7 Brixham to Babbacombe 12

It was a very hot day today with full sunshine for much of the day. A rest day for me as I had done all this before. Margaret caught the bus back to Brixham and said that 8 out of 10 people on the bus were dressed as pirates!
I walked into Torquay and visited Torre Abbey gardens and cafe for coffee and cake. There is a 200 year old mulberry bush in the garden.

On the way back to Paignton I stopped for lunch on a seat overlooking the sea and a few moments later Margaret arrived at the same seat having walked from Brixham. After lunch she continued on her way to walk as far as she could before catching the bus back to Paignton. I walked back into Paignton that was absolutely heaving with people and motorbikes.

I have never seen so many bikes in one place before. The whole seafront area was full of parked bikes, marquees, beer tents, trade stands, food tents, ice cream etc.

It was far too busy for my liking so I walked to the harbour where boatloads of pirates where arriving from Brixham and then to Fairy Cove just beyond the harbour that was reasonably quiet.
Unfortunately it was too hot and too far for Margaret to go any further than Babbacombe and after much discussion of various options she will be returning in September to fill in the missing 7 miles.

Day 6 Dartmouth to Brixham 11

It had rained a bit overnight and the early morning was cloudy. Yet again our morning started with a ferry, this time across the River Dart  to Kingswear. We said farewell to Dartmouth. We had been staying in the quirky red painted building squashed between the Harbour Offices and a row of terraced houses.

Dartmouth

Kingswear

After a climb up the Alma Steps the path levelled out for a short time before plunging down into Warren Woods passing some secluded coves along the way before emerging after a few climbs at the coastguard station at Inner Forward Point.
Another steep down took us to the Brownstone Battery, a WW11 coastal defence position.

The path was quite undulating today through woods and along cliff tops to Scabbacombe Sands. After a steep climb up from there we spied a seat at the top with two people sitting on it. Fortunately it was a big seat and they kindly offered to share it with us so we had our lunch in company. Mind you as he was from Lancashire he may have regretted sharing it when he found out we were from Yorkshire!
My day was a bit shorter then Margaret's as I left her at St Mary's Bay and took a short cut into Brixham. I had walked from there to Brixham around Berry Head when on holiday with CHA in Torquay in 2009.

Berry Head 2009

Brixham was full of pirates preparing for a battle with a visiting Spanish Galleon the following day.

We were staying in Paignton for a couple of days at Lazy Days B&B which turned out to be one of the best we stayed in. We finished our day with a meal in Wetherspoons which wasn't quite as busy as Plymouth thankfully.

Day 5 Torcross to Dartmouth 10.5

This was our view at breakfast the next morning.

Kingswear

The weather was getting warmer and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We hadn't been looking forward to re-tracing our bus journeys of the day before but our lovely landlady Lizzie volunteered to give us a lift to the other end of the broken road saving us loads of time.

We walked towards Torcross and then back again along the broken road. Only half of it was left in some places.

Slapton Ley

Today we were walking towards Dartmouth with no buses to catch or any time constraints so we had quite a leisurely time walking through the village of Strete before stopping at Blackpool Sands for  coffee and cake.

Blackpool Sands

I have always said that I would never go to Blackpool but Blackpool Sands is more my cup of tea!
Through Stoke Fleming and back on the cliff top towards Dartmouth Castle where we stopped again for a cup of tea and a tea cake before arriving in Dartmouth fairly early in the afternoon.
A trip to Marks and Spencers for some more supplies and a sit on the river side to eat tea followed by a visit to Bayards Cove, a historic part of Dartmouth that has featured in many film sets.

Bayards Cove, Dartmouth

Although we had an easy day we still managed to have an early night to re-charge the batteries for a harder walk tomorrow.