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.