Walking - Day 8

Today's Route - Salcombe to Beesands
Distance - 20.8km
Beers Earned - 6.3
Weather - cloudy, no head wind, no rain

Surprise, we started the day with a river crossing. Well, technically it was an estuary but there was a ferry involved which seems to have become our regular morning tradition. This ferry was very civilised ... no boards, bells, yelling, waving, dancing or smoke signals required. Just stand on the little jetty until the boat arrives as it shuttles back and forth across the water.

Another lovely walk, the weather was kind to us and the English Channel was calm enough that people were water skiing. The beaches along the first stretch are all privately owned but visitors are allowed provided you follow the various rules. Some allow dogs, some don't allow radios, stay on the path, go home by 4.00pm ... different rules determined by different owners for different beaches.

This part of the coast is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest with an abundance of rare flowers and breeding birds ... or so says the signage. We don't know a rare flower from a more common one so we just took pics of the pretty ones. They're so tiny and delicate, none of them bigger than a fingernail. With the help of some local twitchers (bird watchers) we did see a Cirl Bunting, once wide spread across southern England but now only found in this part of Devon.

Most of the coast here is rugged and undeveloped but the ascents and descents are much more gentle than on previous days. It's easy to imagine the waves crashing onto the rocks during bad weather and there are quite a few ship wrecks in the area. But today all was calm and gentle, barely a ripple by comparison.

We spent some time at the site of the lost village of Hallsands in Start Bay. Dredging for shingle on the shoreline in the 1890s ultimately led to the sea wall washing away and the beach level dropped by an estimated 7-12ft. Without these barriers against the tide and storms, the original village was washed away by 1917.

Our walk finished today in the small seafront village of Beesands ... one street, one pub, one B&B, one pair of tired walkers.Read more