In anticipation of a warm day, loaded with salt replacement drinks, water and accessible swim things we headed down the steep road to Oddicombe beach; the first of many sea wall walks. Passing the Victorian tramway, wishing we’d taken it rather than trudging up the steps along side, we missed the non-existent way maker ending up at the not yet open Babacombe model village; site of many a school trip.
On rejoining the path what followed was an unexpectedly soothing, mostly shady, wooded hike across the headland to Teignmouth and the ferry. What we did know about, sadly, was the numerous difficult vertiginous ascents and descents relieved by occasional meadows and wonderful views. Why were the challenging ascents always in the sun?
Hot and bothered after hours and only halfway, we stopped for water, coffee and cake at by the Teign estuary before taking the ferry across.
Teignmouth’s sea front promenade then morphed into miles of long hot sea wall walking, accompanied by the National railway and lovely reddish beaches. Fortunately low tide meant we could nip under the railway tunnels, however rail maintainance forced us up and over a headland and further on a detour through Dawlish.
On reaching Dawlish Warren, realising we still had a few miles to go we ditched the idea of a swim in favour of a shady iced cold drink! Leaving the jet skis and beach behind, still in the company of trains, we followed the cycle path along the Ex estuary to the Airbnb on the outskirts of Starcross.
Later excited we met my sister and my dad for dinner in the pub. They are going to walk with us tomorrow and Sunday; a real family celebration for mum!
Apologies, wifi issues mean I’ve thankfully uploaded the photos but not yet sorted or labelled them.
Official SW Coast path: 16miles
Official running total: 512miles
If you would like support our walk for Alzheimer’s the two charity just giving pages are
And
You can also find me on instagram; search for paulas.mad.adventures
Thank you
Paula
PS We stayed at an airbnb on Royal way Starcross on 17 June; www.airbnb.co.uk
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