Slapton to Blackpool Sands

After a very hot week the temperature had dropped today so we were keen to do another section of the South West Coast Path.

We drove the car to Brixton then caught the 93 bus to Kingsbridge.  Although we could have stayed on the same bus all the way to Slapton, we chose to spend an hour in Kingsbridge and catch the next bus to our destination.  It was lovely riding on the top of the double decker with great views over the Devon countryside.

We got off the bus at the memorial at Slapton Sands and started to walk in an eastward direction.  We tried walking on the beach but the Sands were shingle and it was hard work walking on it.  The coastal path started being on the nature reserve side of the road.  There were lots of wild flowers and butterflies, but no view.  We were therefore pleased when the path crossed the road and went along the edge of the beach where there were far reaching views of  Start Bay.  There were wildflowers on this path as well.

At Strete Gate we left the beach and the main A379 behind and climbed steadily up an old road.  Unfortunately before long we hit the main road again and had to walk along this until we reached Strete (not good).  The other side of the village we walked across fields and soon had wonderful views around Start Bay.

After walking on further we stopped for lunch with fantastic views along the coast to Blackpool Sands.

We then had to walk down and up the Landcombe valley.  Both sides of the valley were very steep and going down the hill was very precarious.  We then cross the main road again and had to head inland across fields  before coming down to Blackpool Sands.

We had read that they had a large screen at Blackpool Sands so planned to stop there for a while watching the Olympics while enjoying the beach and being by the sea.  However the screen was situated in the car park, near the toilets, and there were no seats, so we did not stay long watching it, but just stayed on the beach until the next bus came.

Torquay to Babbacombe

Summer finally arrived on Saturday 21 July!  After over 6 weeks of wet and showery weather we finally saw clear blue skies so we could plan to spend a whole day walking.

We took the train to Torquay   (very crowded with others heading to the beaches).  With our ticket we purchased bus plus tickets so once we had arrived in Torquay we could use all the buses.  We took the bus from the railway station to the centre and then another bus to St Marys Church.  We walked down to Babbacombe Model Village then turned right and started walking back towards Torquay.

To begin with we walked along the top of the cliffs at the side of gardens and we could see all along the coast beyond  Exmouth.

Oddicombe Beach.  Recent heavy rain has cause a landslide

 Soon we came to the South West Coast Path and as usual there were plenty of ups and downs, but it was not too strenuous.  We kept near to the sea at all times, although we could not always see it because of the trees.  However, there were many good viewpoints to see the islands just off shore and rock formations.

We gradually worked our way down to see level at Meadford Beach and rewarded ourselves with a delicious icecream at the cafe there before we tackled the last hill up to Daddyhole Plain.  This is where we had got to last time we walked along the coast path from Torquay last year.  We knew it was only a short walk down to the town by road.  After stopping for a cup of tea in Debenhams looking out over the harbour we took the bus back to the train station.  It had been a lovely day and a lovely walk.