Date: 20180701
Time: 10:15 – 14:25
Distance: 16.2 km
Stay: Cherubs Nest B&B, Dartmouth
Walk
It is raining pipe stalks (cats and dogs) during breakfast. According to the weather forecast, it would be dry around 11 o’clock (or at least dryer). I do not have that much patience, however, and I start walking as soon as it is dry.
Unfortunately, that only lasts a few minutes …
I walk back to the sea and the Coast Path. Then it goes on with the boring part of yesterday. I can walk better here, in the middle of the road that is closed anyway. There is no road anymore in various places.
If you consider all these things, sinking roads, villages that disappear into the sea and cliff erosion, you realize that England is getting smaller and smaller…
The beach where I walk here was used by the Americans in 1943 to practice for D-Day (30,000 troops and 16,000,000 tons of equipment). The people here were told that within 6 weeks they had to pack their things and have to be gone. Only about a year later, after D-Day they were allowed back again. There is a monument here to commemorate that and as a thank you to the sacrifice of the inhabitants.
After a quiet climb I arrive in Strete. Here I pass the village shop and fill up my water supply and I buy a cold juice. Because although I am completely wet, I feel very warm with my coat on.
After Strete I walk through several meadows for a while. One of those meadows goes down very steeply and then almost as steep up again. Fortunately, in the course of time a kind of footstep emerged. Otherwise I would have had a challenge with the current weather on the wet slippery grass.
In one of the last meadows I suddenly look out over Blackpool Sands. Here I walk to and in the beach cafe it is time for coffee. When I take off my coat, I’m just as wet.
After the break, I leave off my coat. It is now dry and I hope that stays that way.
While a faint sunshine appears, I walk over tarmac roads to Little Dartmouth. From there it goes more along the coast. At a certain point, that changes into a forest walk to the Dartmouth castle. I walk past it and it is only a short distance to Dartmouth. The sun is shining now.
I arrive in Dartmouth well in time and in the meantime I have dried up almost completely. The B&B is quickly found, but it is still too early. Therefore, first a few pints in the pub next to it.
Weather
The day started with rain. The first hour it rained almost continuously. Then it became dry, except for one short period of light rain. By midday the sun came through a bit and later the sky turned completely blue.
There was also a lot of wind on the coast today. That could have been very cold without my raincoat.
Lyric of the day
Today started with a lot of rain, so somewhere someone was making rain. The lyrics of today are therefore Rainmaker by Iron Maiden:
When I was wandering in the desert
And was searching for the truth
I heard a choir of angels calling out my name
I had the feeling that my life would never be the same again
I turned my face towards the barren sun
And I know of the pain that you feel the same as me
And I dream of the rain as it falls upon the leaves
And the cracks in our lives like the cracks upon the ground
They are sealed and are now washed awayYou tell me we can start the rain
You tell me that we all can change
You tell me we can find something to wash the tears away
You tell me we can start the rain
You tell me that we all can change
You tell me we can find something to wash the tears…..
And I know of the pain that you feel the same as me
And I dream of the rain as it falls upon the leaves
And the cracks in the ground like the cracks are in our lives
They are sealed and are now far away
You tell me we can start the rain
You tell me that we all can change
You tell me we can find something to wash the tears away
You tell me we can start the rain
You tell me that we all can change
You tell me we can find something to wash the tears…..
