Synopsis: In search of rhododendrons in Devon I go to Coleton Fishacre and am not disappointed. After spending too long in the gardens, I was left with a marathon afternoon walk back to Paignton.
(selection of photos from Flickr photo set – use link above to view album) At the end of this walk, at 8:30pm, I’m sat in a wind shelter on Paignton seafront gazing at the light on the pier, eating fish and chips and watching the sun go down. Not quite what I’d anticipated, but brought on in part by general lack of planning. Also, I spend a lot more time in the gardens of Coleton Fishacre than I’d anticipated, dazzled by the lovely fresh colours in the garden. But anyway, lets start at the beginning.
Hedgerow: Mountain Cornflower (Centaurea montana)I woke with no clear plan for the day, other than I felt I was in need of a walk, and an inkling for seeing some rhododendrons. Ok, I know they’re not to everyone’s taste, but I happen to think that given a good setting they can be quite stunning. I had searched the internet for rhododendrons in Devon but hadn’t turned up much, and was forming the view that Devon just doesn’t do rhododendrons. I did however see some in someone’s photos taken at Coleton Fishacre, and the idea of once again doing a combination trip, part garden visit, part walk came to me. I was a little too late to make this a ‘do it by bus day’, so had to opt for car to get me to Paignton, only using a bus to get me to Coleton Fishacre. I hadn’t time to do any more planning than this, so I had no idea what the mileage would be.
Coleton Fishacre
The bus stop is at the end of the lane that leads to Coleton Fishacre, and it’s only about 1.5 miles to get there. Unfortunately the lane is narrow and quite busy, so I found myself often pinioned into the hedge as cars squeezed by me. It was sunny when I set out from Exeter, but by now rather thick sea mist had descended on me, casting a doubt in my mind if this was going to be a pleasant trip. As soon as I caught my first sight of the gardens of Coleton Fishacre all by doubts were dispelled, for I could immediately see that loving care had been lavished on the gardens and they were looking tremendous. Although I’ve visited the place on numerous occasions I can’t recall my ever seeing the gardens in spring before, for some odd reason.
View from Coleton Fishacre
Part of the work that’s been undertaken on the garden has been to open up the far end down towards the sea, where long sweeping paths have been laid and vistas down to the sea and cliffs have been opened up, realising the amazing potential of these gardens. I came across numerous exotic looking plants, which somehow have survived our long cold winter remarkably well.
Scabbacombe Beach
As I pass Scabbacombe Beach, I’m reminded of the family walk we did a few years back. This is the point at which we picked up the coast path, our intended walk being to Kingswear. We stopped here briefly and the more intrepid amongst us took a dip in the sea. That was a nice day, apart from the ‘slight slopes’ that I heard so many complaints about. Hey! that’s what makes it fun!
I notice that time and money has been spent on the sea water bathing pool at Shoalstone Point near Brixham. I was a little surprised by this, as I had thought that there was little demand for this sort of facility these days. Painted on the walls was a notice that the pool would reopen on 23rd May. There were some boys jumping off the harbour wall into the water at Brixham, but they looked rather cold to me, and I wasn’t tempted to join them. For a while, sat on a bench on the harbour side, eating some nuts, I think to myself I should have bought a ‘Bay’ bus ticket, as then I could jump on a bus and ride back to my car, but that would be cheating. By now it was just after 18:00, the sea was calm, the air cool, and I had another 4.5 miles to walk, so off I set from Brixham.
As I approached Broadsands there’s a small cove name Elberry Cove, off of which I catch sight of a seal, basking close to the shore. In fact I hear him before I catch sight of him (or her), as ‘it’ was making mild snorting sounds in the water. With seals, I’m never sure who is watching who, as I always get the impression they’re sneaking a view at us at least as much as we are at them. Perhaps for them it’s ‘seal zoo’.
The beach huts that line the promenade at Broadsands seem so British. I’m reminded of the rows upon rows of them that once adorned the beach at Dawlish Warren, all long gone now. They were like a mini-encampment, a sort of refugee centre for the bucket-and-spade brigade (and after all, that’s just about all of us). Well, one has to have a place where one can brew up, doesn’t one? I also remember us playing dare devil, jumping off the steps of the wooden bridges over the dunes, each turn going one step higher. Of course the real dare was to run along the top and clear the whole flight. It took a bit of nerve, but it could be done, as I live to bare witness to this feat of bravura. But why is it that no one is ever impressed? It’s one of the reasons I’ve never felt the need to buy a fast car, the other of course being money. I haven’t been able to trace any photos of how the beach huts looked back in our youth, but I did come across this lovely photo of just how strong tea sales in Dawlish Warren were back then.
I found the walk tough going, but coastal path walking I well know can be hard, but at the same time quite enjoyable, in a masochistic kind of a way. It wasn’t such a great surprise to find that my total ascent was as high as it was (see below), a climb greater than the highest peak in England, but what a shame I was 19 metres short of 1,000. Still, my walking isn’t about clocking time or distance, but about being out and about in this wonderful landscape of ours. I must have shot a good many photos on this trip, as I exhausted both my batteries and had to squeeze the last few shots out of my camera without the aid of LCD panel.
The question I find I ask myself after a walk like this is, ‘Would I choose to do the South West Coast Path again?’ My only answer to which is, ‘I would certainly find it tougher than when I did it, it having been hard enough back then, and after all, maybe once is enough!’
Walk Statistics:
Total Distance: 16.6 miles
Moving Time: 6hrs 54min
Stopped Time: 2hrs 07min
Total Ascent: 981 metres
Maximum Elevation: 159 metres
Buses: 120 (Paignton to Coleton Fishacre)
No comments:
Post a Comment