Day 88 - Saturday 6 September 2003 - Sidmouth to Exmouth

 13 miles walked today

936 miles walked in total (10.636 average)

I left Beer Youth Hostel at 7.40 am.   Because I knew I'd be one of the first out, I'd organised my bag last night, leaving just the stuff out that I'd need for walking and stowed my big rucksack under the window seat in our dorm.  So I was quite perturbed when I could see it was raining!  I'd only got my shorts with me and my long trousers were in the dorm.  However, I decided I really couldn't wake the other five residents of the dorm by riffling through my bag to find them.

Instead I went and had a cup of tea and discussed the weather forecast with the Warden who told me it was supposed to be dry and cloudy, but no rain.  By the time I'd driven to Sidmouth, it had stopped raining anyway.  After parking shenanigans and padding up my feet, I was finally ready to walk at 8.30 am.

I had a massive hill climb to start with - what a surprise! - to get out of Sidmouth and I soon needed to stop for a breather.  The views back down to the town were stunning though and well worth the hike.

The path was on road for a very short stretch, but then cup up through woods and back out onto the cliffs.  The path was quite slippery because of the rain so I took it very steadily.  Fairly soon, the path diverted away from the cliff edge and through a conifer plantation which was very cool to walk through.  I really enjoyed this stretch and, when the sun shone through the trees, it was totally magical.  Once through the trees, the path opened right out and I could see down to Ladram Bay with its amazing sandstone formations separated from the cliffs.   At Ladram, I walked through a caravan park and found a very nice cafe for breakfast.

From Ladram, the path was on cliffs again, but very level, towards the River Otter and Budleigh Salterton.  There were no ferries over the river and nothing for it but a short detour inland to a bridge - still all on paths, no roads - and a riverside walk back to Budleigh Salterton for a drink and a mooch around.  It was only twelve o'clock, so I decided to push on and see where I could get to today.

From Budleigh, I had a short hike uphill to get back to the cliffs.  This last stretch was brilliant and I felt really invigorated.  I was then on the level for a while before a downhill to Sandy Bay and a huge caravan park.  Sam had informed me that the Johnsons used to holiday here, but Sheila was sure it would have changed in forty-eight years!

The views from the cliffs were breathtaking and I had frequent stops for photographs and just to drink in the view.  From Sandy Bay, it was all downhill to Exmouth which was full of uniforms.  The RNLI roadshow was in town and also Exmouth was in the throes of the South West Brass Band Festival - how bizarre.  I thought brass bands were a northern thing?

I went in search of the ferry to Starcross, which is where I'll start tomorrow.  The first ferry is at 10.30 am, which is a bit late for me to start.  I'll either have to drive around to Starcross, or just walk later and hope I get back in time for the last ferry back to Exmouth at five o'clock.  We'll see.

I walked up to the bus station at Exmouth, which was next to the railway station, and I was concerned at the conversation between the bus drivers, the train guards and local taxi drivers.  Apparently, there had been a collision between the Exmouth train and a kite surfer and the police and ambulance services were involved.  Goodness knows how the two had been in the same place at the same time.

After the bus ride back to my car, the Tourist Information office informed me that the Sidmouth carnival would be in full swing later tonight so I thought I'd be better off out of the town and back at Beer.  At the hostel, I came clean to the Warden that it had been me that took the fence post out this morning and he told me it happens all the time.  I also found out from him that the Anchor pub would be showing the footie so, after the speediest shower in the history of man, I legged it back down to the village to the pub, and watched the match with the locals, some of whom were dressed as Superman (complete with tights).   I walked in at half time to find that Macedonia were beating England 1-0 - what a disaster!  England soon pulled two goals back, and the pub was in uproar.

I staggered up the hill afterwards for tea and then made my way back to the youth hostel at the top of the hill.  I've really enjoyed today - thirteen miles will push my average up a bit and I didn't find it as much of a struggle as I thought I would.