Salcombe to Slapton

It had rained in the night and we expected a cooler day, perhaps with showers. We were wrong! There were a few spots of rain in the morning, and an interesting sea mist from time to time, but it turned hot again. Margaret Weymouth cooked us a lovely breakfast, our first 'full English' of the holiday. Earlier, she had provided fresh milk for our early morning cuppa. You'd be unlikely to get such good service from any other B&B in Salcombe, even if you'd paid twice the amount. Margaret is aware that many walkers, like us, end up staying at Motherhill Farm because they can't get accommodation in Salcombe itself, but if you don't mind the walk and the lack of en suite, I'd advise you to book Motherhill Farm as your first choice for accommodation in the Salcombe area.

We left Motherhill Farm soon after 9am and walked back down to the passenger ferry, stopping to buy postcards and sandwiches for lunch ('ploughmans' with local cheese - delicious). We ran down the passageway to catch the 9.30 ferry, but we needn't have bothered - at 9.30 there was no sign of the ferry, at the Salcombe end, the East Portlemouth end, or anywhere in between. Thankfully it appeared about 9.35am, and we had an uneventful crossing - for £1.50 each.

From East Portlemouth we followed the road to Mill Bay then climbed up through woodland and beyond, turning the corner at the end of the estuary and heading towards Prawle Point over Portlemouth Down. There were no major ascents or descents, but lots of minor ones - one of the guidebooks we've used in the past described this sort of walking as 'undulating'. Out to sea, a sailing race was marshalling. We passed Gara Rock, which we spent ages looking for on the map - we were looking out to sea, but it is an inland rock, with a hotel close by. We undulated our way past the porcine selection of 'Pig's Nose', 'Ham Stone' and 'Gammon Rock' with some climbing over rocks required (so I was very pleased that they were not wet and therefore slippery). As we climbed up to Prawle Point we admired the view back to Maceley Cove, where people appeared to have been wild camping. It's a wonderful spot.

We rounded Prawle Point, passing a coast watch station. As we rounded the point the scenery changed in a way that I had not expected, for all my reading of the guidebooks and experience of mapreading. You're walking on a raised beach, with the former cliffs to your left. It is distinctive, attractive and easy walking. We stopped for lunch near Langerstone Point, with superb views back to Prawle Point, where an arch was now visible. We continued past Malcombe House and Woodcombe Point to Lannacombe Beach.

It was hot, so not surprisingly the beach was busy, but every so often wisps of mist appeared, and as we passed the Pinnacles (stacks) by Great Mattiscombe Sand the wisps of sea mist became quite spectacular. Then, as we approached Start Point, the mist came down completely and it was wonderfully atmospheric, with the lighthouse's light and fog horn being all that we had to tell us there was a lighthouse there. The mist lifted as quickly as it had descended, and we were soon able to photograph the lighthouse against a clear blue sky.

As we rounded Start Point a new vista opened up in front of us - the sweep of Start Bay, with the villages of Hallsands, Beesands and then the water of Slapton Ley clearly visible in front of us. I was very pleased with our rate of progress thus far today, but think I underestimated the amount of walking still to do. We descended to Hallsands, and went down to the information board telling the story of the old (lower) village which was lost to the sea when its protective shingle back was removed for profit. The information board was extremely good, telling more about the livelihood of the villages and about the Trout sisters who built the 'Trouts Hotel' (now Prospect House) on the cliff top. However, it suddenly became very busy, with a particularly annoying man blocking the best view and talking a load of nonsense, so we left them to it. Several visitors claimed to remember the old village as it was - they must be older than they look because it was destroyed in the early 20th Century!

One final climb, around the disused Beesands Quarry, separated us from Torcross, but this was one of those climbs where the effort expended pays rich dividends. There were excellent views both back the way we had come and ahead to Slapton Sands and Slapton Ley. We descended to Torcross and walked along the promenade until this ran out, with the beach of Slapton Sands stretching in front of us. We crossed the road to the car park where a tank commemorates the ill-fated 'Operation Tiger' D-Day practice landings on Slapton Sands.

The path from here runs close to the main A379, but you are not really aware of the road as the path runs close to Slapton Ley, Devon's largest freshwater lake, formed behind the bar of Slapton Sands. We followed the path to Slapton Bridge, then turned inland, away from the South West Coast Path, and climbed to the village of Slapton. Old Walls was easy to find, and Val Mercer showed us to our large room (again not en suite, but the bathroom and toilet are both very close) with a pleasant view over a jumble of roofs in the village and the rolling countryside beyond. Slapton is an ancient and attractive village, with lots of thatch and a 14th Century Tower, all that remains of the Collegiate Chantry of St Mary, founded by Sir Guy de Brien. We had a lovely (and large) meal at The Queens Arms, and discovered another delicious local cider, 'Devon Mist'.

Following day