Synopsis: Three for this walk, Gill, Jeff and myself. A change of scenery from our mid-Devon ‘strolls’, to this coastal path walk. A notch up on the effort scale. A sunny day, the coast has rarely looked better.
(selection of photos from Flickr photo set – use link above to view album)
We, our ex-colleagues walking group, had had a number of walking excursions in mid-Devon. We felt that a walk along the coast would make a nice change. As I probably do the most walking of all in our little group, it was likely I had the best grasp of walk possibilities. I therefore offered up this walk as a suggestion, and had willing participants.
In the end, there was just the three of us for this walk, Gill, Jeff and myself. This walk, like most of the best coastal walks, was linear, and therefore best done using public transport. There was a certain amount of trepidation about this, as Gill and Jeff, avid car drivers, don’t use public transport very often. I told them not to worry, I’d do all the planning and organise the ticketing.
And so, I boarded our agreed train for Paignton at Digby & Sowton, my local station, and Gill and Jeff joined this same train at St Thomas Station. Details of ticketing used, along with our train and bus timetable, can be found in the Walk Statistics section at the bottom of this post.
There was a thick fog in the air as we left Exeter. At first we could see little of the coastal views, which was rather a shame, as this is one of the most picturesque rail routes in the country. As we travelled on the mist began to disperse, and we did begin to see something of the promised views.
The train wasn’t busy, probably because we were now quite late in the season. We arrived punctually in Paignton, with 30 minutes to spare before our bus was due to depart. We strolled over to where the steam trains of the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company depart for Kingswear. We noted this was proving extremely popular, as there was a queue extending out of the station entrance for tickets.
Back in Paignton Bus Station we saw that our bus was waiting so we boarded for our journey out to Hillhead, the start point for our walk today. It was only a 16 minute bus journey, so, by 10:46 we were ready to set off on our walk. We spoke briefly with a young lady who got off at the same bus stop as we had, and was walking our way. She explained that she had taken out an OS Maps subscription and was using this on her smartphone (HTC) to assist her in her navigation. Apparently a ‘connection was required’, which I thought was hopeful, knowing well enough, there was little chance of a signal where we were going. The last we saw of this lady was her ascending out of Man Sands ahead of us, as we weren’t going to be so very quick today.
The sun had burnt off the early morning fog and the day was bright and warm. At Man Sands we could take in our first expansive view of the coast, looking east towards Sharkham Point, or Berry Head. To the west of us was our first steep incline of the day, the cliff to be negotiated between us and Scabbacombe.
Of course, this is the joy of coastal path walking!: no sooner have you climbed a 300’ cliff and reached the top, when, you find you’re descending steeply down to sea level again, only to once again do it all over again. There were just a few people on the beach at Scabbacombe. Thus began our second big climb of the day, out of Scabbacombe Sands.
The steep climbs had slowed us down. But, we had just one more significant pull before Coleton Fishacre (NT), just south of Scabbacombe Head, at Ivy Cove. Then, the walking from Ivy Cove to Colleton Fishacre was relatively light going. We entered Coleton Fishacre at 14:00, sought out a garden bench in the sun, and rested our weary legs whilst we tucked into some lunch. Although I expected the gardens at Coleton Fishacre to be past their summer prime we did discover a good deal of exotic colour, which owes much to the superb microclimate of this ideally situated garden.
By 14:40 we were on our way out of Coleton Fishacre, having flashed our National Trust membership cards as we passed reception. Jeff had to wade through a tonne of plastic to find his. For some reason the National Trust staff said they couldn’t take Jeff’s Costa Coffee card.
By now, we had lost the sun. A bank of fog had rolled back in. It was rather surprising how this caused the temperature to drop quite dramatically. But perhaps that was what we needed, as it was necessary to pick up our pace a little if we were to catch our bus. The walking was in fact quite easy going for a while, as we followed lanes in the direction of the Daymark, which soon came into sight.
The Daymark stands in the centre of a field which had just been ploughed. There is a gate in the fence which allows access from the track to it. Thankfully the ground was dry, as otherwise our way would have been rather muddy. I always feel this stone built edifice makes for quite an imposing object in the landscape. I think its design is quite intricate, perhaps more so than is absolutely required for its purpose of being an aid to shipping. But then, perhaps its rather unusual shape increases the ease with which it can be recognised by those using it to navigate by.
We passed by the old WWII Brownstone Battery at Inner Froward Point and headed into woods. The walking through these woods was easy, affording occasional vantage points from where there were good views along the coast, west of Dartmouth. Kingswear Castle and Dartmouth Castle (EH) could be seen too.
Next, we dropped steeply down into Mill Bay Cove. This was steep steps down, and then even steeper steps up, and up, and up. This was always going to be our big test of the day. But, know what? We all came though it, exhausted, but otherwise unharmed.
From here it was relatively plain sailing to complete our walk. A gradual drop along the lane into Kingswear, and then down some steps to pick up the coastal road into the centre of Kingswear. By now we still had about 20 minutes until our bus was due, so it was easily possible to catch our desired bus. We even had a few minutes to spare, allowing us time to watch a steam train couple with its carriages for its hard pull over the hill back to Paignton.
Our route back to Paignton, slightly less charismatic than steam train, was by bus (we had our Plus Bus tickets). We arrived back in Paignton by 17:30, with plenty of time to seek out Henry’s Bar, which we’d chosen as our supper venue. After a relaxing, and restful, meal and a drink (or two), we returned to Paignton Railway Station to catch the 19:21 for Exeter.
We were all tired by the time we’d returned to Exeter. I said quick goodbyes to Gill and Jeff at St Thomas Railway Station, and stayed with the train to reach Digby & Sowton. It had been a good day’s walking along what I consider to be one of the finest stretches of coast to be found in South Devon. And the weather, especially for October, had been oh so kind to us. A great day! It is said, ‘A walk on the coast will help you sleep longer and be happy!’. We were about to test that theory.
I did this walk earlier in the summer, so this was a repeat through familiar territory. It’s a walk along spectacular coast paths, so I never tire of returning. For my previous walk this year, see:
Walk Statistics:
Total Distance: 14.99 km / 9.3 miles
Elapsed: 6hrs 14min (lunch: 32min)
Moving Time: 4hrs 47min
Stopped Time: 0hr 55min
Total Ascent: 626 metres
Maximum Elevation: 171 metres
Buses: 120
Trains: Digby & Sowton to Paignton – off-peak day return with Devon & Cornwall Railcard: £4.80
…… Normal ticket price, without railcard discount (33%) would have been: £7.30
…… Plus Bus ticket for Torquay, Paignton and Newton Abbot (£2.50) – includes Brixham and Kingswear
Train out: 08:40 – 09:58 (1hr 18mins) – no changes
Train return: 19:21 – 20:44 (1hr 23mins) – no changes
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