Monday 31 March
Budliegh Salterton to Sidmouth 6 miles
John drives
us to Budleigh Salterton, where we finished last year. He has just retired and seems happy to be our
chauffeur.
It’s a
glorious morning, and the forecast is set fair for at least the week. Since we were last here, the wetlands scheme
has been completed, and we are fortunate to arrive at high tide. The whole valley of the River Otter is
flooded, including the cricket ground.
Amazing.
We walk up
the Otterton path which now has water and bird watching hides on both sides.
We stop for
coffee in the Ladram Bay caravan park.
Chris sees desecration of the landscape.
I see inexpensive holidays for families which can’t afford hotels. I do admit she has a point. There were caravans here when I came to
Ladram Bay as a child. But the site is
now humungous. The coffee in the
restaurant is very good, however.
There is a
path diversion. We manage to get a bit
lost and added an unnecessary half a mile.
Lunch on the top of Higher Peak.
This is all very familiar territory for me. We stop for tea at the Fort Café in
Connaught Gardens. The gardens are
rather drab. Where are the glorious
wallflowers?
We descend
and mooch along the sea front. We stop
for a photo in front of the Elizabeth Hotel.
It was started by my grandmother in the nineteen twenties. I spend a lot of my childhood here because my
family was based with the army in Germany.
John picks
us up in Sidmouth at 4.30. We have done
six miles. I get terrible cramp at
night.
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