Walking - Day 10

Today's Route - Dartmouth to Totnes
Distance - 14.8km by foot, 6.7km by taxi
Beers Earned - 4.1 for the part we walked
Weather - Variable and unpredictable

It's our last UK walking day and we've chosen a trail that will take us away from the coast and up the valley of the Dart River. Yesterday's rain is history but the forecast is for more heading our way later this afternoon.

After missing out on a ferry ride yesterday we've made up for it today with 2 crossings of the Dart River. The first was from Dartmouth to Kingswear on a vehicle ferry, where Ms OfficeBody scammed a half price fare from the fellow red-head collecting the money. The ferry was literally a floating pontoon which was pushed/ pulled across the river by a small tug boat.

There were great views of Dartmouth as we followed the railway line along the opposite side of the river before we crossed the tracks and wandered into the woods ... and then the fields ... and then more woods ... and more fields ... before we arrived at Greenway, which was Agatha Christie's holiday home. The house and land is managed by the National Trust.

Our second river crossing from Greenway was more in keeping with our previous experiences ... a man in a small boat charging an exorbitant fee for his services. This one was the first we've seen with a rate schedule for dogs as well as humans.

We landed at Dittisham, an almost-too-quaint-to-be-real village, and decided to push on to Cornworthy for lunch at the pub before the weather closed in. The rural walk to Cornworthy on mostly country lanes was not good for the injured toe. Despite strapping, padding and painkillers it does not like hard surfaces at all.

We, with grumpy toe, arrived at the pub for lunch to find there was no lunch available. New publicans have re-opened the pub only a couple of days ago but the cooking facilities were still being upgraded and the cupboard was bare. With the sore foot comfortably out of its boot and resting on a cushion, we snacked on rations from our backpacks and washed them down with a pint while we watched the clouds dump their contents outside.

A quick look at the map confirmed the final few kilometres to Totnes were mostly on lanes and hard surfaces. A quick look at Ms OfficeBody's face confirmed she wasn't very impressed with the idea of squishing her foot back into its boot to subject it to an afternoon of extreme ouch-ness. A quick look outside the window of the pub confirmed there was more rain on the way. A quick look online provided the phone number of the local 'taxi' who would be able to pick us up as soon as he'd finished the school run.

We were happy to wait and have another pint.Read more