Day 4 Salcombe to Torcross 13

It rained quite hard overnight and was quite windy but all had calmed down by 9.30 when we went to catch the ferry to East Portlemouth.

 Once across the rather choppy river the path passed through some woodland where we saw a friendly robin guiding us on our way.

We really enjoyed today's walk in the sunshine passing Start Point,

the abandoned village of Hallsands and the small village of Beesands. We heard our first cuckoo of the season on the approach to Torcross where we planned to catch the bus to Dartmouth at 5 o'clock. We arrived with half an hour to spare and found a seat near the bus stop overlooking Slapton Ley.

 There was nobody on the bus when it arrived a few minutes early and the driver in a west country accent said 'You can't get to Dartmouth from here'.' Why not, the time table says we can?' The road was washed away by storm Emma in March and we were advised that we would have to go on the bus to Kingsbridge and then catch another bus to Dartmouth. 'Which bus?' 'This bus no.3 when I come back the other way!' Five minutes later on the other side of the road  we boarded his bus to return to Kingsbridge. Margaret asked as we got off 'What number bus will we be catching to Dartmouth?' No. 3 was the reply! All this confusion could have been avoided if only someone had put a notice on the bus stop explaining the situation!
Well we did arrive in Dartmouth eventually about an hour and a half later than planned and stayed at the very quirky Eight Bells B&B. Once again we had a room each. Mine was in the conservatory and was quite noisy from the nearby car ferry, a water feature just outside the window and a ticking clock. Margaret's was really quiet but she didn't have a window. Not a very good night's sleep for either of us and we were here for another night.

Day 3 Bigbury-0n-Sea to Salcombe 13

Lovely and sunny first thing but just after setting off we had about five minutes of rain as we made our way to the river Avon. Yes another ferry crossing and this one had to be timed accurately as the ferry only runs for an hour in the morning and an hour in the late afternoon.
Stand and wave or shout 'FERRY' the notice says. So 10.00 a.m. arrived and we duly waved, and waved and we could eventually see some activity across the water.

The ferryman then waved at us as the tide was low and we had to move further down the river side. Once on the other side I had done this walk before so planned to walk as far as Hope Cove and then catch the bus to Salcombe. Margaret had done part of it before as she once stayed at the HF house Thurlestone Sands that is now apartments.

Thurlestone Rock

Hope Cov

Coffee time at Hope Cove before trying to find the bus to Kingsbridge. After a few false starts and some directions from the post office I persuaded Margaret to get on with her walk while I waited at 'the green triangle' for a bus, not a bus stop in sight! Thankfully it did arrive and I duly arrived in Kingsbridge with time to sit and eat my lunch before catching the bus to Salcombe.

Meanwhile Margaret walked round Bolt Tail, Soar Mill Cove, Bolt Head and South Sands before meeting me at North Sands. I had a lovely afternoon eating ice cream from Doggies Ices (better than it sounds!) and walking around Salcombe where there was a lot of building work going on. We both had a few minutes of rain and that was the last rain we had on our walk for the rest of the holiday.
All our B&Bs were good but this was our least favourite as we had a room in the basement that was a bit claustrophobic.

Day 2 Noss Mayo to Bigbury-on-Sea 12

Good Morning Sheep

Another bright sunny day but still that cold wind blowing. An easy start to the walk following an old carriage drive along the cliff top, nice and wide so you didn't have to look where you were putting your feet for a change. After Stoke Beach the path became more undulating on the way to today's river crossing.

No ferries this time. The only way to cross the River Erme is by wading across an hour either side of low tide or walking round, an extra 8 miles. Now you might think that we were lucky to get there at the right time but it was all in Margaret's plan. She had seen that HF were walking the same part of the coast path as us and she expected them to know when it would be safe to cross the river so we timed our trip to coincide with there's! A cunning plan. We never saw the HF group so concluded that it must have been cancelled for lack of interest. Oh and yes we did have a tide table as well just to make sure.
The water wasn't very deep and was quite cooling on the feet. We had our lunch on the other side.
On reaching Challaborough we split up as Margaret really wanted to walk across to Burgh Island that is joined by a causeway at low tide to Bigbury-on-Sea and it was still visible. I had a drink at the pub while Margaret pressed on and got part way across before having to turn back as she didn't want to get stranded on the island.
Our B&B 'Summer Winds' was delightful and directly opposite Burgh Island.

Burgh Island

Agatha Christie spent some time on Burgh Island and it was the inspiration for two of her novels.

We had to walk a short way back to Challaborough to get something to eat and had very good fish and chips and a play on the beach before bed time.

Day 1 Plymouth to Noss Mayo 13

 The weather was dry, sunny periods but a bit cool and breezy (woolly hat weather). time to take a few photos of Plymouth waterfront before the ferry was due.

We crossed over the River Plym to Mount Batten on the ferry.

The path was relatively easy today along the eastern edge of Plymouth Sound, through woods and on to Wembury for a lunch stop at The Old Mill Cafe (National Trust)

'A' party has to climb trees!

424 miles done, 209 miles to go

Our second ferry of the day was across the River Yealm from Warren Point to Noss Mayo. A very beautiful and peaceful part of the coast path journey.

About another two miles and we reached our destination for the night, Worswell Barton Farmhouse. A traditional rambling farmhouse where we were treated to two separate rooms for the night and the sound of sheep from our bedroom windows.

Plymouth 28 April 2018

The train journey back to Plymouth was our first problem.
There was engineering work on the line and we had to take a bus replacement between Birmingham New Street and Gloucester, All seemed to be going well but traffic congestion meant that we arrived at Gloucester station two minutes after our schedule train for Plymouth had departed. As the train to Plymouth was an hourly service we arrived at Plymouth station an hour later than intended and had to wait ages for a taxi. In fact we could probably have walked to the B&B in the time we waited but the suitcase wheels might have protested!
We have claimed a refund from Cross Country trains (watch this space!)
The B&B, Mariners Guest House was very clean and comfortable and we received a warm welcome on arrival. Much better than the one we stayed in last time.

We had a couple of miles of coast path to do between the Cremyll Ferry and the Mayflower Steps but first paid a call to Wetherspoons in the Barbican area 'Gog and Magog' which was absolutely heaving but we were served quite quickly thankfully.

Plymouth Hoe

Francis Drake

Mayflower Steps

Getting ready for Brexit!