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| I've got a long way to go. |
Today was one of the hardest walks we have done on the SWCP. 11 miles of walking up and down very steep cliffs. It took us 6 hours of non stop walking to complete this walk and now we are both very tired. Ann is lying on the sofa and I have just gone straight to bed!
We got the 8.45am No. 11 bus from Torquay to Shaldon. It cost £3.80 for Ann and 50p for my 'pet explorer' ticket. The bus driver was very helpful and told us which stop to get off at and also told us how tired he'd been when he'd done the walk. Stupidly, we just thought he was exgagerating when he said it was a very tiring walk. Ann had told me that the first section out of Shaldon would be hard but for some reason she thought the rest of it would be easy. Why she thought that, I don't know? It was all hard - very hard.
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| Lovely sunny day, we can see for miles |
We started our walk at 9.15am. Shaldon is a very pretty place - lovely little cottages, a lot with thatched roofs. It was a beautiful day and we got a good view of Teignmouth which is more than could be said for our walk on Wednesday. Also once we'd climbed the first hill out of Shaldon we could see right the way up the coast to Exmouth. Infact we could see for miles in every direction. We could see all the way down the coast to the headland before Torquay and we could see all the way over to Dorset and the Chesil Beach. It was lovely to have some sun for a change.
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| Dartmoor Ponies |
I really enjoyed this walk because I was off my lead for pretty much all of the walk until I got back to Torquay. There were a few places when I had to go back on my lead because the walk went alongside the road for a couple of mins, and once I had to go back on my lead because Ann spotted sheep. Normally I'm quite observant and would have seen them first, but I was having such fun running about sniffing all the new smells and generally just having a good time, that I'd failed to notice that there was a whole flock of sheep in the field we were walking though. I was really confused when I got put back on my lead 'cos I knew I hadn't done anything naughty. However Ann told me I was a good girl and I only had to stay on my lead for a couple of mins. We also saw some Dartmoor ponies. There were signs saying that we weren't to approach them because they might bite. I'm normally quite good with horses (unless they're running in which case I chase them) so Ann said she was going to trust me to walk sensibly through their field. I managed to do that perfectly.
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| Fun in the woods |
This walk went through a lot of woody areas and through a lot of fields. But, whether it was wood or field the path was all very, very up and down. Ann was really slow at walking up the hills so I raced to the top and then had to come back down again to check she was following me. This meant that I probably walked double what she did. No wonder I'm a tired collie. Also there wasn't a great deal of streams on this walk for me to drink out of, nor did the path go right down to the sea on many occasions so I had to rely on Ann giving me drinks at regular intervals. The trouble is Ann didn't really want to stop too often. We stopped for a few mins a couple of times and sat on benches admiring the view but Ann complained that her feet and knees hurt after a stop.
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| Oddicombe Beach |
Ann said that when we got to Babbacombe we'd find a nice pub or cafe and stop for some lunch. But she hadn't really thought about the fact that we were walking the coast path and not walking through the centre of Babbacombe. After about 3 hours of walking we got to Oddicombe Beach in Babbacombe where we had to walk up & down the side of the Babbacombe Cliff Railway. I didn't like that. The train wasn't running but I still didn't like the railway track. However I did get to have a swim in the sea and then Ann spotted a pub at the end of the beach where she thought we could maybe go for lunch. It had a dog bowl full of water outside so we thought it was probably dog friendly but the menu outside seemed very 'restaurant orienated' (and all Ann wanted was soup or a sandwich) so we thought it was probably too posh for us. Ann wasn't really very hungry anyway but we both could have done with a sit down.
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| Relaxing |
For some reason Ann thought that Babbacombe was only a couple of miles from Torquay. Well it probably was if we'd gone the direct route. But of course we were walking the coastal path so it was probably another 5 miles or so. Another 5 miles of walking up and down.
When we got to the headland at 'Long Quarry Point' we thought we'd just have to go around the corner to get to Torquay. When we got to the headland at 'Black Head we thought we'd just have to go around the corner to get to Torquay. When we got to the headland at 'Hope's Nose' we thought we'd just have to go around the corner to get to Torquay. When we got to the headland at 'Thatcher Point' we thought we'd just have to go around the corner to get to Torquay. When we got to 'Meadfoot Beach' we thought we'd just have to go around the corner to get to Torquay. When we got to 'Daddyhole Cove' we thought we'd just have to go around the corner to get to Torquay. When we got to 'London Bridge' we thought we'd just have to go around the corner to get to Torquay. When we got to 'Saddle Rock' we thought we'd just have to go around the corner to get to Torquay. Finally, when we got to the 'Millstones' we went around the corner and we could see Torquay.
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| Torquay Harbour |
The harbour in Torquay was such a welcome sight at the end of this walk because we knew then we only had a mile or so to walk back to our apartment.
Today's walk has been lovely but I'm so glad the weather has been good. Ann said we were going to do this walk whatever the weather, but if it had been as wet as it's been for the last 3 days I think we would have had to abandon it and get a bus or a taxi back to our apartment.
I've really enjoyed my walking holiday in Torquay but I'm absolutely shattered now. I know I'm a collie and am supposed to be able to keep going forever but as I said before, I've walked double what Ann has, and 22 miles in 6 hours is hard going - even for a speedy, full of energy, collie like me!
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