Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Torquay → Shaldon

Distance: 12.3 miles
Ascent: unknown
Duration: 5 hours

Scattered childhood memories
« Brixham | Teignmouth »

It's half-term, so Jez and I are spending a few days together at Mum's flat in Exmouth. (We've not been away together before; it's rather strange - aren't brothers meant to do this all the time?)

Jez is up for walking, so we'll spend the next few days chipping away at the South-West Coast Path, the UK's longest single path.

Gran lives in Teignmouth, so all day we passed places we know well, though we've never strung them together like this before: Torquay prom, Hope's Nose, Babbacombe, Oddicombe (and the cliff railway), Petit Tor then eventually The Ness, the Shaldon Ferry and Teignmouth prom.

It's hard going in places, with plenty of yo-yoing from cliff-top to beach. We'd planned to grab lunch at Maidencombe, but the pub had stopped serving food when we got there. The second half of the walk was exhausting, but we made it in the end, finally descending past the Smugglers Tunnel through The Ness cliff and down to the beach for the ferry across the Teign from Shaldon to Teignmouth.

And what better way to finish a day's walk than dinner at Gran's? If only she didn't live half-way up the hill out of town.

Rewalked by Emma on 27 September 2011.