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.