Saturday 3rd August

By: Mike



Down the hill again for 0900 bus to Brixham.  We set off for Torquay.  Another lovely day. We stop on a bridge and I get a video of the Dartmouth steam train. [video will follow!]



 This is the first video to be put into the blog.  Later, we get a glimpse of an excursion train pulled by an engine called Mayflower. 

                                                            The Mayflower

 The excursion started in Crewe, I discover on line, Mayflower was attached at Taunton.  It spends three hours at Kingswear before doing the journey in reverse. After a standard ‘up and down’ walk, we emerge into Paignton.  It has a lovely sandy beach, but nothing else to recommend it.  The crowds, the fat wobbly people, the amusements, the fast-food outlets. Leaving Paignton we are slightly unsure of the way and sit down to consult the book. Up rocks Nicola wearing a SWCP tee shirt.  She sets us on the right path and tells us that she has walked the entire path once, and is now doing it again! It is a boring, flat road-based walk into Torquay harbour, which is almost as bad as Paignton.  Chris gets into conversation with another path walker. It’s the poles which attract them. He had walked the entire  SWCP, but felt disappointed because he didn't finish at Poole. He got to Poole but went back to complete a bit he had missed.  When we get to Poole (if) we will need bands playing and a large crowd waving flags.

We then have an inspiration.  Instead of a boring bus, why not get the ferry back to Brixham? I get tickets and we have tea in a niceish café before joining the queue for the ferry.  They don’t have anyone controlling the boarding and it is somewhat chaotic, but it’s a nice way to get back.



We have a little scam planned in Brixham.  All driven by not wanting to climb the hill to ‘Navy Blue’, we have booked supper at Beamers restaurant on Brixham harbour.  Of course, this means missing the last 18 bus and means a taxi – to the door!  We are early so we take a glass of wine in a harbour side bar. Beamers is very good but -  £116 again. We both had catch of the day - sea bass. Taxi to the door. No climbing the hill!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By: Mike
Image
  Sunday 29 th October We aren’t going to make Fowey.   But we could do Mevagissey.   It’s only 3 ½ miles on from Gorran Haven.   There seems to be a bus back to GH, so we drive to the NT car park again and easily cover the distance over good path to Portmellon, where we have a bevy in the Rising Sun.   It is deserted and they aren’t doing food, so we press on in the rain now.   Mevagissey is quite a substantial place with a big harbour lots of pubs and a very acceptable harbour-side restaurant called the Sharksfin.   We settle in and tuck in.   I have a massive Sunday roast laden with every possible veg including a separate cauliflower cheese which is a meal in itself.   Chris has mussels.   The timetable says our bus is at 16.15 so we mooch around the harbour  and visit a little private museum.   It’s a real Aladdin’s cave.   My stand out memory is that they landed 90 tons of pilchards a day at the height of the now-v...
Read more

And they're off

By: Mike
Image
Friday 26th July That's the monument which marks the start in Minehead of the Southwest Coast Path - and this is Mike and Chris about to set out. Our selfie seems to be back to front.  It's a minor detail when you are about to tackle a 630 mile trek.  Maybe pre-race nerves came into it. Are we doing it all in one go?  Don't be ridiculous.  It's going to be a case of long weekends and I reckon it'll take up to three years.  So best settle down for a long read. Are we camping? er  yes sort of.  Our tent is being shifted by the lovely people at luggagetransfers.com.  And there will be hotels.  Oh yes.  Starting with The Rising Sun at Lynmouth.  But first - camping at Porlock.
Read more
By: Mike
Image
  Wednesday 25 th October Our taxi meets us at 09.30 sharp.   Chris has decoded the parking system and books the day on her phone. £5.00.   Driver is Santiago aka ‘Santi’.   He’s from Barcelona.   What on earth is he doing in St Mawes, we wonder. Perhaps he is a political refugee?   We don’t find out. Taxi is £30.00.   We are on the path at 09.45.   First thing that happens, I lose one of the stoppers on the end of my walking poles.   Annoying.   We then encounter a herd of cows.   They are harmless, of course, but still big and scary.   In avoiding them, we miss the path, and end up having to climb a fence.   This is much scarier for me than the cows.   I am too old to climb fences. Surprisingly, it’s a fine day.   Rain passed over Cornwall during the night. We were practically in Portscatho when we stopped for lunch. It’s only six miles. We got coffee at Thyme and Tide again, did a bit of shopping at the...
Read more