Coast part 2a
The next stage of our trip around the UK coastline is the Devon/Cornwall Peninsula, this part could have been subtitled 'Been There Done That'. Work had taken me to the lighthouses at Portland Bill, Berry Head, Start Point, Penlee Point, St Anthonys, Lizard, Pendeen, Trevose Head, Hartland Point, Bull Point, Lynmouth Foreland, Instow and the beacon at Blacknore (Portishead). As well as the actual lighthouses I've also had to go many other places such as Plymouth, Penzance, St Just, Bideford and Ilfracombe to get boats or helicopters out to offshore stations. I also have family connections at Weymouth and Portland and we have had loads of family holidays in Devon and Cornwall over the years.
So having established that a good part of this coastline is well known to us, you won't be surprised to hear that in some stretches we just breezed along as near to the coast as we could get to but without dallying. Many other places however, even those within a few miles of places well known are as yet undiscovered so we slowed down there. We also took a day out to visit the Eden project splitting the trip. We have chosen to split this blog as well into two parts which we call 2a and 2b. I originally wanted to call it Before Eden and After Eden but thought better of it.
Obviously doing this trip in November brings the difficulty of a short day so we got up early and pressed on trying to get to a campsite before dark. The upside of this was that generally we didn't see much traffic and got through a lot each day. I have given up mentioning every little seaside village we passed through so have produced a list as a seperate blog.
This tale comes with a health warning: we really kept close to the coast. If we were forced away from it we tried to get back even if this meant an out and back trip down unsuitable roads, I shall be restoring my paintwork over the winter.
Day 1 Dorset and into Devon Lulworth Camp to Branscombe
Doreen drove down from Salisbury to West Lulworth passing the spot at Lulworth camp where we finished last time (that was Easter Sunday and its now 9th November!) At the heritage centre we parked up (£2.50 is the minimum charge) and walked down to the cove to make our first connection with the coast. Two cups of coffee and two slices of Dorset apple cake later we were on our way again now on the coastal trip proper.
Lulworth Cove
If you want to view all the coast from Lulworth to Weymouth you will have to walk it. The road is mostly on the wrong side of the hill to view the sea but we stayed as close as we could certainly within 5km. Just after Poxwell we headed east for a while and climbed up above South Down farm to a viewpoint which gave us our first good view of Portland. This included Portland Bill lighthouse at its southern end. We also drove down to a car park to get a good view of Ringstead bay. I have often been in this area but as is often the case had passed by the local attractions as we rushed to and from visiting family. Osmington Mills is a good example, but this time it was not left out. The Smugglers Inn looked as pretty as a picture so I took one.
The Smugglers Inn Osmington Mills
I could have been forgiven for missing out Weymouth and Portland but duty bound, we drove all the way down to the lighthouse at the Bill (for some reason in Trinity House we always addressed it more formally as Portland William). It was a lovely day cold but sunny as the pictures show.
Weymouth Bay and Chesil Beach
The leaning Tower of Portland
As we left Weymouth through Chickeral we took a little diversion seaward to Fleet, another place missed in the past by me. It is the setting for the book Moonfleet. We spent the rest of the trip trying to remember who was the author - we didn't get it right (it is John Meade Falkner or so google reckons).
The road to Lyme Regis never strays far from the coast but you don't get more than fleeting glimpses until you climb the hill out of Abbotsbury. Along the way we took small detours to take in West Bay and Seatown. There wasn't much daylight left now so getting to our rather ambitious target of Budleigh Salterton was not going to be possible (there is no point in driving along the coast in the dark). So at Seatown we phoned ahead to find a pitch for the night. Still we managed to make it into Devon and visit the pretty village of Branscombe after passing Beer head. This next photograph gives me a problem, from the sequence of photos and the timestamp it has to be Beer Head taken from Seaton, but Beer head has red cliffs, so was it a trick of the light or did I get the digital white balance wrong, who knows?
Beer Head, or not.
One other thing we got wrong, was to forget to go down to the beach at Branscombe to see the wreckage of the container ship MSC Napoli.
1st day - 91 coast miles
Day 2 Devon: Salcombe Regis to Salcombe
You may be surprised that we started from Salcombe Regis, if you look it up it is nowhere near Salcombe but instead is the little village near where we spent the night.
This day was to be a day of crossing Devon rivers. We started in a modest way with the Coly, Otter and Clyst before bringing on the big hitters of the Exe, Teign, and Dart then ending with crossing the estuary at Kingsbridge.
Budleigh Salterton turns out to be a surprisingly motorhome friendly town, no height barriers and no prohibition on overnight parking in the sea front car park (at the east end). It was also 'poppy central' this Remembrance weekend. The Legion doing the second thing they are famous for. The first? Cheap pints of beer.
Budleigh Salterton
On then to Exmouth and the big detour around the Exe, passing twice under the M5. We had a lot to get through on day two hoping to cross most of Devon but its a tricky place. From Dawlish Warren its more or less non stop sea side resort to Brixham. Even in November its a long slow slog along the seafronts especially if like us you go right around the seaward edge of Torquay. Eventually you arrive at Berry Head. Berry Head is one of my favorite lighthouses. Its billed as the shortest, highest and deepest in UK. Highest because its on the top of a two hundred foot cliff. Shortest because its tiny, the optic is only a few feet off the ground, and deepest because under the revolving optic is a shaft which goes down almost to sea level in which the weights that drove the optic gearing originally descended. The headland always makes me nervous its a very flat area with precipitous cliffs. There are often accidents and they are normally fatal. I have watched in disbelief as people let their dogs and children roam unfettered near the edge.
Berry Head Lighthouse
Its difficult to follow the coast from Berry Head to Kingswear, but we kept fairly close and eventually crossed by the ferry to Dartmouth. Its then more or less a straight run, if at times a narrow one to Start Point. In this area of Devon the lanes are very narrow and disconcertingly often below the level of the surrounding fields none more so than between Start Point and Prawle Point. I used to stay at South Allington house when project managing at Start Point LH. So I naturally went the way I knew. Big mistake, its just about passable if the hedges have been recently trimmed. I don't recommend it in anything bigger than a small car. I'll be blending out the little scratches on the van all winter. As the afternoon drew on we just had time to get to East Portlemouth and through Kingsbridge to our night halt a Camping and Caravan Club CS near South Milton and Salcombe.
Prawle Point CG Station Salcombe from Portlemouth
2nd day - 110 coast miles
Day 3 Salcombe to Looe.
When we left our CS early on Sunday morning we knew that we still had a lot of Devon coastline to cover. The A379 goes from Kingsbridge to Plymouth but apart from where inlets come in to meet it, it doesn't go near the coast. We have travelled a lot of miles travelling back and forth between that road and the coast. First we got to Salcombe then after visiting the Inner and Outer Hopes to Bigbury on Sea for breakfast.
Salcombe - Bigbury
One minor delight was crossing the Erme and later visiting its mouth, you can have whole conversations that go like 'what was that river we just crossed?' 'errrmmm'. Perhaps it was all the tooing and frowing across the South Hams that cracked us. Back then to the A379 and then back to Blackstone Point.
Views from Blackstone Point
We eventually got to Plymouth and spent time on the Hoe before crossing on the Tor Point ferry into Cornwall. (It was free crossing into Cornwall).
Smeaton's Eddystone Lighthouse on Plymouth Hoe
Rame head was to be our first Cornish port of call but we went via Kingsand and Cawsand, following a request from Doreen who had often arranged accommodation at the Cawsand Bay Hotel but please don't attempt this in anything bigger than a Renault Trafic otherwise you will become a permanent part of Kingsand. At Rame head we followed the cliff top to Freathy then Seaton (another one) and then went a little way inland through St Martin to Looe. We went then to a campsite at Polperro but having viewed it, we backtracked a few miles to what we thought would be a slightly better one.
Progress was much swifter in Cornwall than it had been in Devon. Its a pity with 20/20 hindsight that we didn't dawdle some more in Devon because now we only had 25 miles or so to go to the Eden Project and as we wanted to spend a full day there needed more to do on day four, still its easy to be wise after the event.
3rd day - 106 coast miles
Day 4 Looe to St Blazey Gate
We had a leisurely start and explored Polperro in the morning. I had never been to Polperro before and Doreen went there when a child. It was nice on a very sunny November day to see the village without the tourists but odd seeing shops closed with the note 'Open Easter 2008' instead of 'back in 5 minutes'.
Polperro
In the afternoon we went to Polruan which overlooks Gribben Head and Fowey and then crossed over to Fowey on the Bodinnick ferry. It was a lovely warm day so went for a walk on Gribben Head.
Gribben Head from Polruan
4th day - 25 coast miles
Link to part b franksblog.webnode.com/blog/coast-2007-2010/coast-part-2b