South Walk: Starcross to Torquay

Sunday January 11th The official route from Exmouth, is to take the Ferry across to Starcross, but given that it isn't running at this time of year - I have made an early start and driven to Starcross, and parked near the ferry landing point. The sun is still rising and in my half asleep mode, I have left all my walking guides at home - so bought a map from the local newsagent. It was a grey day, but dry and I planned to make quick progress in the morning and try and get to Torquay before 4;.00pm in the afternoon. Why the deadline - a football match of course - MU v Chelsea - thought I could watch it at Torquay, legs permitting! From Starcross - its a fairly boring trek along the main road until you reach Dawlish Warren. I would be following the railway line, all morning, on what is a dramatic piece of track, being so close to the sea. Good old Isambard Kingdom Brunel - engineered the construction of the whole line from Paddington to Penzance.

The sea was on it's way out - so at Dawlish Warren, I joined the path along by the sea wall. Dawlish Warren is a bit of a dive, with various holiday parks, chalets and grockley things. It does have a large Nature Reserve though and is an important stop over point for many migratory birds in Spring. The walking was flat and I made rapid progress along the wall to Dawlish itself. the town is quite pleasant, dominated by the Station and railway, which arrived in 1846. It's very popular in the Summer, but at this time of year its Closed! - I couldn't even find anywhere open to have a cup of coffee!

I climbed up the hill out of Dawlish, which gave good views looking back towards Exmouth and the coast stretching back towards Lyme Bay. Next stop was Teignmouth and my route was dependent on the tide. As it was well on it's way out -I took the path down Smugglers Lane, underneath the railway line and joined the path along the sea wall to Teignmouth. This was another long straight level stretch - so I got into 5th gear and before long, I was in Teignmouth and and looking for the first Cafe, I could find. What looked like a good old English Greasy Spoon turned out to be run by Mr Foo Chan Woo who had a chinese restaurant on the first floor! Catering for all tastes, you could call it - more like a Chinese Greasy Chopstick! As I suspected my Toast, Bacon and Fried egg was a bit of a disaster. The bacon was more like a slice of tough ham, the egg was crucified, the toast soggy and the cappucino was wet and warm - apart from that, I enjoyed it, being rather famished. I resisted the temptation to give Mr Pok Yan Wok a brief cookery lesson on how to present a good english - and made my way towards the ferry point. This was to take me across the Teign Estuary to Shaldon. I had googled the ferry, the previous evening, to check whether it would be operational. I was suprised to learn that it is one of the oldest running Ferries in England, with records dating back to the 10th Century! I hoped that they had invested in a new boat during that period.

The first thing I saw at the Ferry Point - apart from the lack of people, was a sign saying FERRY CLOSED from Jan 12th for one month for repairs! My heart sank, as I was on a tight time schedule - and knew the walk across the bridge would add another hour - but it suddenly dawned on me that today was the 11th - so great timing again. The Ferry duly turned up as did another couple of customers - and deposited us on the beach at Shaldon. It was a grey miserable morning - and the whole area looked pretty dull - the view back to Teignmouth is dominated by industrial warehouses and the working port . Shaldon is much prettier and gets very busy in the Summer . There are some scenic cottages and narrow streets. I headed up from the beach towards the Ness Hotel which has a splendid location overlooking the whole estuary.
It is a steep climb out of Shaldon up onto the red sandstone cliffs overlooking Ness Cove and with brilliant views - well on a nice day anyway! My next target was Maidencombe - and then on to Babbacombe and St Marychurch on the edge of Torquay.
The path was quite hard on this stretch - alot of climbs up and down- but I kept up a good pace - and reckoned I would be at Torquay well in time for the match! There was a distinct lack of other walkers - but that wasn't suprising, as it was a pretty miserable day.
Maidencombe is another popular tourist spot - thatched cottages, cream teas and a nice sheltered beach. I didn't linger and sped on up a twisting wooded path through the Valley of Rocks and towards a small place called Watcombe. From there it was across some open grassland and down some steep steps to Oddicombe Beach which is around the cliff face from Babbacombe beach. It was a strange place to find a very ugly looking cliff railway which takes you up to Babbacombe Downs - and was obviously built for lazy people who couldn't be bothered to walk down the hill to the beach!
From here - I had to decide at what point to leave the path and end the day's walk. The path through Torquay is a long one - all around Hopes Nose, Thatcher Point and to the promenade - and having walked about 15 miles - it was going to be too far. In the end, after consulting the map - i could see that near a place called Ansteys Cove, the path was very close to a main road and a car park, so it was a suitable place to start again on another day. As it happens there was a bus stop right on the road - and after a 15 minute wait - I got a bus as near to Torquay rail station as I could.
I had though that time permitting, I could get the train back to Starcross and see the match there - but I'd just missed a train - so after consulting a taxi driver - made my way to a large sports bar - which had a massive 10ft HD screen - allowing me to see every pustulent pimple on Ronaldo's annoying face, as he was interviewed pre-match! Enjoyed the first half - and then legged it back to the station and made my way home via Starcross - another leg completed.

South Walk: Sidmouth to Exmouth

Saturday January 10th 2009!! Well Christmas has come and gone - my belts are a bit tighter and with all the Calendar nonsense over and done with - I am glad to be back on the path with two thirds of the whole walk still to do.

We are in the middle of a real cold snap - so I made sure I had ample warm clothing before heading back to Sidmouth for an early start. It was going to be a bright crisp day - once the sun had come up - but at 7:45am it was still very cold and Sidmouth was deserted - not a Zimmer frame in sight.

From the end of the promenade - I joined the Clifton Walkway path around the sheer redstone cliffs to reach the well known Jacobs Ladder and Connaught Beach.

With the first steep climb out of Sidmouth - I could tell I hadn't walked much for a few weeks - but the exertions warmed me up and I was soon back on the pace and heading across High Peak Cliffs en route to Ladram Bay. This was still Jurassic Coast territory and very dramatic it was, in the early light of the day.

What rather spoilt the stunning coastline was the " boil on the baby's backside" that is Ladram Bay Caravan Park! It is the most incongruous piece of tourism that you could possibly conceive. Scattered along the coast path are splendid signs promoting the beauty of East Devon and Ladram Bays Jurassic Coast - but not one picture shows the valleyfull of tourist tin cans. It is a real shame - but, if you can put up with your immediate surroundings of cooped up kids overdosing on Coca Cola - it would make for a splendid base for a holiday - with the emphasis on the word "base".

The Rock formations at Ladram Bay reminded me of the area around Lulworth Cove, albeit in red! Beyond the Caravan Park the stretch towards Budleigh Salterton was very scenic encompassing an old smuggling route called Brandy Head and Chisel Bay.

This was a path that I had walked before, but many years ago and it didn't take long to reach Budleigh Salterton - again - a familiar place. The path headed inland up the mouth of the River Otter to a bridge crossing over and then down the other side to reach Budleigh seafront. This is a splendid area for birdwatching, and there are several hides available for twitchers to chill out.

Budleigh is very picturesque with splendid Georgian and Victorian buildings and a long stony beach.

It was definitely time for a Coffee stop - and Budleigh is a perfect for place for an old fashioned tea room. I am sure I would have had a splendid Cream Tea at the "Cosy Tea Pot" but it was too early for that - so settled for a lovely round of toast and butter instead.

Back on the path - it was another 5 miles to reach Exmouth - and plenty more Redstone cliffs to enjoy. unfortunately, before I reached Exmouth, there was Sandy Bay to navigate. Of course, I have seen this abomination of a Caravan Park before, so it didn't come as a great suprise, - yet another Devon Council's planning disaster area - a complete scar on the landscape that should just be flattened, or alternatively the whole lot could be relocated to Dover - with the addition of 10ft high barbed wire, it would make a splendid immigration centre for asylum seekers!

Eventually, I dropped down from the cliffs to the start of Exmouth's promenade. By now, it was quite bright and had warmed up considerably, so the beach was full of dog walkers and people enjoying the sea air. As I strolled along, I bumped into Marie Weeks and her daughter Lauren. They were busy looking after two young boys. Lauren cares for them, one day a month on a regular basis and they are both autistic, so need alot of looking after. Of course, on a nice day - the sand at Exmouth is a great attraction and apparently kept the youngsters well amused. Marie was well agitated, as she had just had to brave the Gents Lavatory so that one of the boys could spend a penny! The Ladies was closed. Where's Jeff, when you need him!

I pressed on towards the Quay. The main SW coast path route is to take the Exmouth - Starcross Ferry across the Exe, which is a bit strange as I thought it would have gone up the estuary to Topsham. Anyway - being out of season, the Ferry was not in service, so I decided to get the bus back to Sidmouth and pick the car up and then make my way round to Starcross. As it happened, by the time I'd done that - the afternoon had nearly gone - so decided to make an early start in the morning!