I parked right next to Slapton Ley nature reserve - a well known attraction for bird watchers and conservation area. It was a nice ride on the top deck of the bus back to Dartmouth from where I headed out from Bayards Wharf and up towards Warfleet and Dartmouth Castle. I took the lower path which ends up at the Castle itself and St Petrox Church. The Castle is 15th Century and now owned by English Heritage. In the Summer - you can get a ferry straight to the Castle from Dartmouth harbour. There was a little Cafe open at the entrance and a couple of dog walkers making good use of it - one of whose dogs seemed to to to take exception to my presence. There were several signs exclaiming SAVE CASTLE COVE and a lady explained that after bad storms awhile back the path to a small cove at the foot of the castle had been destroyed and they were campaigning to get the council to restore it - as it was a popular and safe bathing place for the local residents.
I pressed on - it was a miserable drizzly grey day - and the path headed out to Blackstone Point at the mouth of the Estuary with good views across to Kingwear Castle. At some point I somehow missed a turn off and was gaily heading along a well trodden path towards Redlap for a mile or so before I realised that I hadn't seen the well know Acorn path symbol. An old gentleman was heading towards me - and I made the mistake of trying to explain that I thought I was on the wrong path and of course he couldn't understand why I was insisting that I was going to have to head back in the opposite direction to where I was headed because I had in effect missed out a portion of the path.
Anyway - that's what I had to do and eventually I was back on track. This was quite a scenic section of the coast - but what followed was an unfortunate detour inland to Stoke Fleming missing out a whole section of coastline which was obviously privately owned with no public access.
At Stoke Fleming - they have tried to improve the route through the village - and only ended up confusing the whole thing with signposts all over the place - and I ended up heading out of the village in the wrong direction - so it wasn't a good morning all round. The path was on the main road for awhile before spurring off to drop down to Blackpool Sands - a very popular summer destination.
The Venus Cafe - part of a Group which open all year round - was a convenient coffee stop although it was too cold to hang around long.
From the Sands - the path climbed up following the road - giving lovely views of the bay and then dropped into Landcombe Valley. This section was relatively new having been opened in 2005. There were a few small coves that you could spot further down -but then the path again headed inland towards Strete picking up the main road again. From here it was a straightforward walk down to the start of the long Slapton Sands and along to Slapton Bridge at the start of the Ley Nature Reserve. The sea was pounding in as the wind got up on this exposed stretch. From here it was still another 3 miles to Torcross the path following the edge of the Ley and parallel to the beach. This is a popular spot for Dog walkers and weekend wanderers alike. I could have carried on really given it was early afternoon - but the path headed away from the bus route - so there wasn't any convenient stopping places before Salcombe 13 miles away! - and that was going to be the next day's walk. Torcross, of course - is famous for the American Sherman Tank which sits in the corner of the Car Park - it was used in D day landing practices on Slapton beach - was lost at sea - but then recovered in 1984 and acts as a memorial to the many American lives lost during the landing practices.So back at the car park, I headed off to Thurlestone to take advantage of Free B& B facilities with Mum and Dad - another 11 miles done.
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