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…..
I pass Hallsands and Lannacombe, but there is nothing to drink anywhere. Only in Beesand I come to the Cricket Inn, finally something to drink (I have enough water with me, but something else and cold is also appreciated).
After that I have a few kilometers to go before I am in Slapton. The last part goes along Lower Ley and Slapton Ley. A rather boring stretch between a road along the beach and the largest natural lake in the south west. The path is very poorly walkable due to large sections with loose sand (I would have been better off walking on the beach).
Eventually I arrive at the Tower Inn in Slapton. It turns out to be closed … But luckily someone shows up so that I can go to my room. Shoes off, slippers on, backpack off and then back a few hundred meters. There was the Queens Arms and that was open 🙂
Today I stay at The Tower Inn, which takes its name from the remaining western tower of The Collegiate Chantry or St Mary (a group of priests who sang for someone’s salvation, in this case apparently in a nice building). So I took a lyric from the old days, 
Today also starts very relaxed. I walk to Hope Cove, there are the villages Outer Hope and Inner Hope. Here are opportunities to have a drink, but it is still too early.
After Hope Cove it is done with relaxing. It goes up to Bolt Tail, but not too steep. From Bolt Tail you have a very nice view, mainly on the part that I have walked the last few days.
Once I am at the top, it continues with a relaxed part with relatively few height differences. But then it suddenly goes all the way down and pretty steep. And as it goes on the Coast Path, almost immediately straight up towards Bolt Head. During this climb I have to cover a narrow path right along the cliff edge. Fortunately, there is almost no wind on this stretch. That could have been quite annoying. The last part rises steeply against a grass slope, the wind is back at full strength and I walk against the wind. That is a hard part.
Then it goes on to Bolt Head in a relaxed manner. That is at about the same level and then just before it goes down again.
After Bolt Head it goes to Salcombe. A few kilometers through civilization and then a pint at the Ferry Inn.
The start of today is easy, a long and wide grass path above the cliffs. Since the farm I stayed in last night was also on a high location, I do not even have to walk up. The view is once again great, in all directions.
After a few kilometers of relaxed walking, I take an alternative from the Coast Path so that I pass the Church of St Peter the Poor Fisherman. As always, there is a price for this detour. It immediately goes down steeply and later I will have to go up again, the Coast Path continues relaxed at the same level.
The 
The wide grass path where I am now walking again, changes slowly and becomes narrower. There are also more gates that I have to go through and at some point it goes through meadows and fields again. One of those fields is very nice, a whole field full of wheat (knee high) with a narrow path through it. That looks nice.
Well, and then I was standing in front of the Erm, a river that I had to cross. In principle you can wade this river one hour before and one hour after low tide. That was exactly at 1 o’clock today and I was there a little after 12 o’clock. Nice on time.
On the spot, I decided to take the guess and risk my life and wade through it. Where other hikers had failed, I would prevail. So I stripped down to my underpants, stuffed everything in the backpack and went barefoot into the water. I immediately felt the current and I was able to keep up with a lot of effort. Step by step it crossed the wild flowing river to the other side. The water stood up to my chest and I was able to keep my things dry over my head with great effort. Under my feet I felt razor-sharp stones that destroyed my soles. What did I get myself into…
After the Erm it went to the next river, the Avon. The route became a lot heavier on this part, between the two rivers. It went up and down again and occasionally very steep. However, this was rewarded with even more amazing views than I had this morning. A lot of up and down usually also means a much rougher coast and that gives beautiful views.
The result of all that climbing is that I start to get very hot. Luckily I arrive at Bigbury on Sea at one point and on the first occasion I stop for a pint of Guinness. That’s at The Waterfront, here they have Guinness Extra Cold, that’s good. I can use that now.
I know approximately
While we are having a chat, the ferryman takes me to the other side. I only have to walk a little bit up to the village to find the Sloop Inn.
After breakfast I first go to the Tesco around the corner to replenish my water supply. Then it goes through Hoe Park and past the Smeaton’s Tower towards the Barbican.
Then it goes all around all the water that they have in Plymouth to Mount Batten. That looks like a short walk, but is almost 10 kilometers. I could have done this with a ferry, it is not the most fun part of the Coast Path. But I do not want that. It is part of the Coast Path and so I walk it.
It is in any case something completely different, first through the entertainment district (because of a detour, the footbridge is closed because it is damaged), then through industrial sites (old and new, fishing / boats related and all kinds of other companies), the suburbs from Plymouth and finally a marina. On the way I come across several half or almost completely rotten boats.
Eventually I arrive at Mount Batten, a few hundred meters from where I walked this morning (on the other side of the water). I also visit Mount Batten Tower, but unfortunately it is not open.
Now I come back on a part of the Coast Path that I am used to, through nature and close to the sea. At the Jennycliff Café I take a short break for a smoothie and after I have passed the Bovisand holiday park, I leave behind the last remnants of civilization, until to Wembury Beach.
The first piece goes up through a forest. That is nice with this warm weather, shade. Then it goes over a wide walking path further along the top of the cliff. That part is a bit heavy, in the full sun and after I have already walked that far. I keep going and finally I come to the place where I leave the Coast Path and head towards farm. I arrive there just before 4 o’clock, time for a shower.
After I have showered, I walk for half an hour to the pub for a pint and something to eat. It goes downhill, so that is not so bad. I will not be walking that part up again, I will call Jackie (the owner of the B & B) to come and get me.
Then I go looking for The Hyde Park, a micro brewery. Unfortunately, there is no more micro-brewing being done. The equipment has failed and they have never restarted…
The owner of the hotel tells me a shortcut. There is a shorter way from the hotel to the Coast Path than back where I came from. But then I miss a part of the path. In addition, I still want to walk through Crafthole to replenish my water supply at the local store.
The first part goes along a golf course, there are already a few people playing golf on the Monday morning. I have a chat with one of them. He does not understand that we are not participating in the World Cup. I do not know what he is talking about 🙂
Then it becomes exciting, I go through the firing range, a military training ground. There are no red flags, so it will be fine, I hope. This is much better than the alternative, two kilometers along a fairly busy road without footpath along it. I walk past the shooting ranges and then arrive at Tregantle Fort. This is one of the many forts built around 1860 to defend naval bases against a French attack (that never came).
Then it goes towards Rame Head, a headland that I already can see for a while. Once there I make the effort to walk to the top, to the chapel of St Michael the Archangel on Rame Head. The chapel has been there for about 600 years, although the current version was renovated in 1882.
At the top I see that there are ponies walking around. In fact, the ponies have take over the chapel as a shelter. So the chapel has become a sort of pony stable…
I continue to Penlee Point. Again a chapel or grotto can be admired here. For this I have to go down a bit. It is the chapel / grotto of Queen Adelaide. Originally an 18th century lookout, the chapel / grotto was created and named after Adelaide, a German princess and wife of the Duke of Clarence, who visited it.
After Penlee Point, a longer forest walk follows to Plymouth, via Cawsand and Kingsand. I come across a real fake ruin, built as a replacement for a navigation obelisk. In the end I walk through old gardens with their own Orangery.
Then it’s time for a ferry again. When I arrive, the ferry is already there. So quickly on board. When arriving at the other side, I am not quite where I expected to be. According to my data, the ferry should have taken me a bit further. No worries, I just walk there and then continue the route. So I do just that. Only to come to the conclusion that I can walk back the same stretch again because that is the route…
Before I leave, I first make a round through Looe.
The route now passes 
After the coffee I walk the alternative route over the Seaton Sea Wall Walkway and then over the beach. Beach is a big word in this, there is some gray sand, but mainly pebbles and rocks.
Until Portwrinkle I walk on the usual Coast Path paths. Sometimes narrow and sometimes somewhat wider, sometimes well passable and sometimes overgrown, sometimes right along the cliff edge and sometimes a good deal from the edge, sometimes free and sometimes with barbed wire along it.
In Portwrinkle I walk along the ‘boulevard’ to the Jolly Roger, the beach café. I have reached my final destination, but not my hotel yet. Still, I think it’s time for a pint.
After enjoying my beer, it continues. My hotel is a bit further on, in Crafthole. That turns out to be about a mile away. But the hotel is nicely secluded, between the hills.
Portwrinkle and Crafthole have their own real ghost, 
Today I walk to Looe, where Ada, the kids and I went on holiday in 2009. But first I have to take the ferry from Fowey to Polruan. This goes fortunately every 15 minutes and when I arrive at the quay, it is already coming.
Then it goes to Polperro. It goes up and down to Polperro and occasionally quite steep.
Polperro is again such a village that you only see at the last minute. An ideal opportunity for a break, there is a life band on a stage. So the break will be in the neighborhood in the pub so that I can hear the music, I go for the Blue Peter Inn. A good beer and life music.
If I go further, I run into a procession. Everyone dressed as a pirate, a kind of brass band in the front and even more musicians at the back. I wait until they have passed and then go on again.
From Polperro I take Reubens Walk as an alternative to the Coast Path. That goes a bit closer to the coast and also comes closer to the mini lighthouse that is here.
From Talland Bay to Looe is a nice relaxed walk. It takes a while, but then Looe Island comes into view. Then I walk into Looe. Through the suburb and then on to the center.
In the center I grab a pint at The Harbor Moon Inn. Here we also ended in 2009 after our walk. We also ate here. The kids wanted a hamburger, but there was only cheeseburger on the menu. So I ordered three cheeseburger without the cheese …
Just after Charlestown there is a 
The route to Par is a breeze. Almost flat and for a large part along a golf course. Only the last piece is a bit less interesting. That part is also easy to walk, but not so beautiful. I have to walk around the clay industry.
There is little to do on the beach in Par. That may be due to the industry that is just around the corner. In the village itself there are possibilities to have a drink, but I prefer to sit somewhere by the sea.
After Polkeris it goes up and down again a number of times, but in general it is also just a nice walk. When I arrive at Gribbin Head, it’s time for biscuits and drinks. We used to do that with the kids when they came from school. I sit on the bench at the day marker on Gribbin Head and enjoy the sun.
I arrive at Polridmouth Cove and a little later things go wrong. So you walk on an as good as flat sand path in a small forest and a bit ahead a stile appears, a fence that you have to climb over. You look ahead at where you are going and do not pay attention to where you are walking. After all, that was the flat sand path… And then suddenly, spontaneously, a tree root jumps up the path, right in front of my feet! And what do you think? I stumble and go down completely, with my face straight on the path.
