Plymouth to Teignmouth
22nd-31st May 2012
This stretch of the South West Coast Path, following the south coast of Devon, is wonderfully varied. The variation is partly down to geology - you pass from shiny metamorphic schists to red desert sandstones, leading to a gentler though no less undulating landscape. You walk through Plymouth and around the coast of Torbay (incorporating the busy holiday resorts of Brixham, Paignton and Torquay) but parts of the path are as isolated and exhilerating as any on the whole trail.
One of the distinctive features of this stretch is the large number of river crossings : after leaving Plymouth the path crosses, in order, the Yealm, Erme, Avon, Salcombe Harbour, Dart and Teign. In most cases it would take half a day to walk around the estuary, so you are reliant on a number of little ferries, many of which only run for a couple of hours each day (and sometimes not at all on Sundays) and there is no ferry at all across the River Erme, so you need to paddle across within an hour of low tide. So timing is everything! Richard rose to the challenge and planned the holiday meticulously.
We stayed in eight B&Bs, with a large variation in luxury and cost, but each with friendly and helpful proprietors, and we would recommend every single one of them. Richard booked the B&Bs direct this year, which saved us a lot of money, though we didn't attempt to carry our own luggage, rather relying on the excellent services of Luggage Transfers.
We used the South West Coast Path Association's guidebook and also the National Trail Guide from Falmouth to Exmouth, written by Brian Le Messurier. The whole 93 miles from where we were up to in Plymouth to Teignmouth are on just two 1:25000 OS maps: OL20 'South Devon' and 110 'Torquay and Dawlish' (indeed, all but the final day's walking is covered by the first of these). The signposting was generally good - there were just a few occasions where there was a choice of path and we had absolutely no idea which was the correct route and, as usual, routes through towns were less clear than those in the country. A feature we hadn't noticed before, whereby signposts, markers signs tiles etc. had a small plaque giving the grid reference of the location, was very useful and is to be commended.
Other holidays, work commitments, our son's wedding and tide times for the river crossings meant that we had almost no choice of dates for this holiday, but we were extremely lucky with the weather. Much of April and early May had been cold and wet, but the sun came out as we reached Plymouth. It rained during the night on one occasion, but our waterproofs stayed in our rucksacks all the time we were away. The rain didn't resume until we were on the train on the way home! We quickly got into the routine of applying sun cream every two hours and stopping for an ice cream each afternoon - and amazingly we found somewhere suitable to stop each day; the photograph shows me enjoying a local ice cream at Maidencombe, just before the final roller-coaster to Shaldon and the ferry to Teignmouth.
The earlier rain meant that the vegetation was wonderfully lush and the wildflowers were beautiful. We met other walkers on the path, but after one man with large rucksack walked past us, head down, at Mount Batten Point, we weren't aware of anyone else who was walking the whole South West Coast Path or even walking fom place to place each day. This is amazing (especially given that we thought we had the timing just right for the successful crossing of the rivers) - we can only assume that there were other walkers about, but we just didn't see them.
We were able to walk the first leg of this stretch (around the Cattewater) on the same day as travelling from home, and then we had a lovely day off in Modbury doing some family history research (with the flags and bunting not really for us but rather for the Modbury May Fair, the approaching Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and because the Olympic Torch passed through just 3 days before us). My maiden surname is 'Flashman' and there were Flashmans, including my direct antecedents, living in Modbury from at least the 17th to the 19th Century. They mostly moved to London in the 19th Century, some via Plymouth (and there are still some Flashmans living in Plymouth - I suspect we are related if only distantly) but the relevant parts of Plymouth were flattened during and after the Second World War so there are no houses of particular interest there.
So, at the beginning of our walk, we had two nights in the Gallery Guesthouse, a gem of a B&B close to Plymouth Station and University.
Most people who are walking the South West Coast path in stages seem to walk from Plymouth to Brixham or to go on to Exmouth. We picked Teignmouth as our end point because the rail line between London and Penzance goes thorough the town, giving us an easy route home. We stayed at the Thomas Luny House in Teignmouth, quite simply the best B&B we have ever visited [sadly it has since closed].
Following leg of South West Coast Path (Teignmouth to Sidmouth)
