Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Leaving home behind I set off to Shaldon on the first day, enjoying the Ferry rides across the Exe and Teign. I had walked the route from Exmouth to Sidmouth many times before with the Ten Tors team but it took a while to recognise it from the other direction! The next day I walked from Shaldon to Brixham and spent the afternoon in Brixham. I liked the mix of boats in the harbour from the replica of Sir Francis Drake’s ship to the small fishing vessels. On the 10th day I walked on to Torcross, stopping in Dartmouth to look around the Castle (which they let me in free of charge). I hadn’t realised how heavily defended the coast was but the old battery opposite and the guns in the castle itself proved otherwise. There was a lot of road walking to get to Slapton sands but it was interesting to see the country side villages and farms. The military tank monument at Torcross was quite a poignant reminder of what had happened there the 60 odd years ago.
After camping with my sister, her boyfriend and my Dad that evening, the boyfriend and I set off to walk to Salcombe the next day. In the early morning light we discovered 5 conga eels hung up to dry. A sign warned us to take ‘extra care’ on this part of the walk and the path was very jagged, carving through sheets of rock. It reminded me very much of Dartmoor as we passed Start Point – another sign told us 462 miles to Minehead. We arrived in Salcombe by midday and had a good rest with fish and chips.

Knowing that I’d be returning home to see family friends at the end of the 12th day I decided to get as close to Plymouth as I could. A 44km day got me to Wembury. I had to time it well because the ferry over the river Avon only ran from 10:00 – 11:00, the river Erme was only possible to wade an hour each side of low tide and the ferry across the Yealm stopped at 16:00. I got across all three though – the Erme was quite wide, deep and the current was very strong already so I found that a bit frustrating. At Wembury I had the best pasty and smoothie I’ve ever tasted whilst waiting for Dad to pick me up!