13 miles walked today
957 miles walked in total (10.633 average)
I was parked and ready to go at 8.45 am this morning. I had a major hill out of Shaldon and my guide book had told me I had a strenuous hike today, but that the first part was worse than the second. Oh good! It was very hot all day and I drank my full two litres of water.
I came off the path at Bundle Head for some reason that I still don't really understand! At one point I was waist deep in a field of bracken and I seriously lost my sense of humour. I've acquired a major rash of stings and bites on my legs which is terribly attractive. I finally got back on the path, which stayed very close to the cliff edge all the way to Maidencombe. The scenery from the top of the cliffs was amazing back to Teignmouth, although I had no teasing glimpses forward towards Torquay until I was almost on top of it.
The beach cafe at Maidencombe was shut as was the cafe at Watcombe, so I pushed on through woods, which made a pleasant change as they were very cool, on to Petit Tor Point. There'd been a landslip here so I detoured into Babbacombe and then down under the cliff railway - a funicular lift - which was very exciting! At this point, I was getting delirious from too much sun and told Sam there were no "downs" today, but that it was all "up". Sam told me to stop whingeing, put my sunhat on and just get on with it!
She enquired how far I was going today and was silenced by my reply of Brixham. I explained that I was going to get the ferry from Torquay to Brixham, at which point all hell broke loose. I was told off severely that I couldn't just get any old ferry, but only ones that got me across significant stretches of water. If Tor Bay isn't significant, I don't know what is! Anyway, I was shamed into submission and said I wouldn't do it.
I headed down to the beach at Babbacombe and had a mug of tea and a sandwich on the front and watched the divers on the beach.
After my lunch break, I headed up the three in one hill to Walls Hill and back down to Anstys Cove. The walking today, while hard, has been very varied and I felt like I could do anything that the coast path threw at me. From Walls Hill onwards, there were loads more people about and it felt like a Saturday with people buzzing around constantly.
I had to walk on the road for a while as I started to head into Torquay and passed some very posh huge houses with their white pillared porches and their palm trees in the gardens. Steps led down to Meadfoot beach and, at the end of the prom, I had another climb up to Daddyhole Plain which, again, was covered in people soaking up the September sun.
The path from here zigzagged down the hill and I stopped and chatted to a guy who's walking Minehead to Poole for charity. He's a member of the South West Coast Path Association and had the same guide book as me. He tried to persuade me to become a member and said that a lot more information on the path was filtered to members that non members don't see. It might have been useful today as I didn't think the path was very well signed at all. We chatted for ages and I mentioned that I wanted to get to Mevagissey by the end of next week. After initially dismissing this out of hand, we calculated how I could do it and he said he thought I'd do it - blinking hope so! I told him about my aborted plan to get the ferry to Brixham, but he thought it was a good idea as there were far too many people on the prom today!
However, I got into Torquay, found the Tourist Information Office and got the bus timetables before getting an ice cream and heading off to Paignton. This last bit was a complete nightmare as there were far too many people about for my liking. Still, it made me walk quicker and it wasn't long before I was at the pier and ready to get the bus back. I was very tired and didn't really appreciate the gardens along the front, but I'll have a proper look when I start tomorrow.
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