South Walk: Salcombe to Wonwell

Thursday March 5th. Taken a couple of days off work - so headed down to Mum and Dad's at Thurlestone to pick up the path at Salcombe again. This is a section of the path that I know very well - and has always been one of my favourite parts of Devon, but it had been quite a few years since I had walked out from Salcombe. Dad dropped me off at North Sands beach, where the path officially started again - it was a lovely sunny day, although with a bitterly cold wind and I headed past South Sands and climbed up towards the National Trust gardens of Overbeck. The Salcombe estuary has some superb properties with magnificent views, - some of the most expensive real estate in Devon. Also at Overbecks is a Youth Hostel - they really do have some prime locations - this YHA lot.

The path continued out towards Bolt Head - a prominent rocky point and then there was a very scenic stretch to Soar Mill Cove. As children we had often come to this beach, as it is very secluded and difficult to get to - but lovely once you are there. It was a steep climb out from Soar Mill Cove and feeling a bit sweaty, I made the foolish decision to take my trouser legs off!

It wasn't long before I was on the exposed stretch of Bolberry Down - and the bare legs took a pounding. There wasn't many walkers - but the few I did meet were wrapped up in Arctic clothing and some raised an eyebrow or two at the rambling loony in shorts.

Mum had decided to meet me on the path near Thurlestone and walk with me to Bantham.

I reached Hope Cove ahead of schedule - so visited the Hope and Anchor and had a ( guess what!) quick Cappuccino before meeting Mum on the footbridge beyond South Milton sands, one of Thurlestone's 3 beaches. The South Hams coast has been kept very unspoilt by the planners - so they take some credit for that - and Thurlestone has remained very untouristy, although they are just in the process of creating a new car park and shoring up the back of the beach and improving the small cafe at South Milton. Mum and I walked the well trodden path around the edge of the Golf Course - Thurlestone's main attraction, although deemed to be one of those snobby golf courses it has a great location but is very open to the elements.

Soon we were looking out towards Burgh Island off Bigbury beach as we dropped down the steep path to Bantham. The view here is superb - with all the waves rolling in towards the Avon Mouth estuary, the expanse of sand and the Island itself which is accessible by foot at low tide, and has the famous Tractor which ferries people back and forth to Bigbury when walking is no longer an option. The Island is well worth a visit - having a 650 year old Inn plus the famous Art deco Hotel once visited by Agatha Christie and features in some of her books. Not today though - once we had reached Bantham itself - we phoned for the Taxi service - which was Dad. At Bantham you are faced with crossing the River Avon - not an option even at low tide .

There is a Ferry service which runs during the peak months, but I was in the fortunate position of being given a lift over to the other side. Mum left me to it - and I got dropped off at the other side near the Bigbury Golf Course. What I thought was a quick walk down to pick up the path again at the Ferry point at Cockleridge turned out to be a 2 mile hike and I was starting to feel a bit leg weary. The aim was to reach Wonwell where there was another estuary to cross, by the end of the afternoon- and I could be picked up from Kingston - the nearest village inland.
After passing through Bigbury and then the awful mobile home eyesore of Challaborough I seemed to be suffering a leg strain - which I later put down to the wind chill bare legs factor! It wasn't a long way to reach Wonwell, but there were some steep ups and downs and by the time I had passed through Ringmore and Aymer Cove , my legs had had enough and I could see that I would be getting to Kingston very late - so I took the next inland path to Kingston which was a long and extremely muddy track .

I was praying that the pub, - the Dolphin Inn would be open with a roaring log fire, but I was disappointed and had to wait outside for my lift back to Thurlestone. Mum came armed with a can of lager and a packet of crisps - but by that time, what I really needed was a hot bath and a buxom masseuse to soothe my aching muscles!

Sunday 8th March : Annoyingly, I now had just a few miles to walk to get to Wonwell and the Erme Estuary, and it wasn't going to be worth going much further, so I decided to just make a mornings walk out of it as a round trip from Kingston back to the coast, along to Wonwell and then back inland again to Kingston. Normally, that would be a nice round trip walk to do on a Sunday morning, but for me it was alot of walking but only a few miles to add to my total! I had rested my leg strain for a couple of days anyway - so wanted to take it a bit easier AND as it happened, the heavens opened late morning - just as I got back to my car - so I avoided a big soaking. The sun was shining again and this part of the coast is quite distinct with it's steel grey steep slate cliffs - so it was a very pleasant walk. The Erme Estuary at Wonwell, looking across to Mothecombe is one of the most unspoilt estuaries on the whole of the SW path and is a lovely setting at low tide, very popular with dog walkers, in fact as a family we used to often come here and walk the dogs, particularly when my parents lived at Wrangaton. The estuary is crossable at low tide - but I would be coming back again and starting from the other side another day. It was back to Thurlestone for another Sunday Roast - ( what's this blog's web address!!)