Saturday: 27th May: Weather: 10°C to16?°C:
Brixham to Torquay: 15.0k walk: Plus 5k Bus + 1k walk: 6hrs 30 mins: 9am to 3.30pm: Ascent: 300 metres
Accommodation: Greg's Room 5 Moor Lane Watcombe 5 k north of Torquay
Excess baggage from 3 Capes
Tourist steam train To Dartmouth
Track to Brioadsands Beach
Broad Sands with 175 Beach sheds
Goodrington Sands Beach
Busy Saturday traffic around Tor Bay
Red cliffs of Torquay
SWCP along busy Torquay road
More swimmers on Torquay Beach
Converted garage at Watcombe
Highlights of our day 14 were all about the beaches and the throngs of people sunbaking and swimming along the beaches of Tor Bay, famously called the Riviera of the UK.
We’re awake at 6am with the early sun brightening the room through the blinds, and have an early morning cup of tea. Every place we have stayed in for the past two weeks has a jug, tea, coffe, sugar and milk - the skimmed or semi skimmed variety that makes tea look like cat’s wee. I usually add a spoon our full cream powdered milk to whiten it up. We shower, pack, blog, etc and go downstairs for breakfast at 8am. Julia is already there making us more tea. There’s a spread of fruits, meusli and yoghurt and we chat while having breakfast. Julia is a real artist and has paintings and and photographs hanging from every spare space of wall. She has many SWCP walkers come through in the two bedrooms she lets to Air BnB but last night we were the only ones.
It’s 9am when we leave down the road and within five minutes, pick up the SWCP that winds it’s way through Grove wood and comes out at Broad Sands Beach below the village of Goodrington. In the distance we can see steam bellowing above the bushes, and soon a steam train emerges. This is one of the finest steam train trips in the country along the coast of Torbay, through stunning Devon countryside and overlooking the River Dart - linking the resort of Paignton with Dartmouth.
Along a farmland track to Broadsands where there’s already hundreds of Saturday locals setting up their beach gear outside their allocated shed ready for sunbaking and swimming in the 13°C water, with a chilly wind to cool you down even more. The rental cost of the sheds is £2,000 per year or £160 per week in summer and are supplied with electricity. The cost doesn’t seem to deter people.
Further around Tor Bay are the beaches of Goodrington Sands, Preston Sands, Hollycombe Sands and Livermead Sands, each with their hundreds of beach sheds. We stop for coffee on a bench seat at Round Head overlooking Goodrington Sands, watching the spectacle of beach comings and goings. On to Torquay Harbour, which resembles Plymouth Harbour - hundreds of people drinking and eating al fresco on the wharf.
We check out the bus stop, as we intend to take bus 35A from the harbour across busy Torquay to Watcombe. It looks like bus 35A leaves every 30 minutes, so time for a leisurely lunch sitting beside the bustling Torquay Harbour. Bread and cheese sandwiches go down well and at 2pm bus 35A arrives and we pile on. Twenty minutes later, we alight at Pavor Road, and check google maps to see how to get to the local Spar supermarket which we know is nearby. A few minutes later we’re at Spar, and leave with sliced dried meat, a 4 pack of Carlsberg, a bottle of McGuigan’s Red, Mission wraps and a packet of Fig Rolls.
Our Air BnB at Moor Lane Watcombe is a further 1k along Teignmouth Rd, and at 3.30 we easily find our home for the night, punch in the code for teh lock box and we’re in. It’s a really suitable place for us with a small loungs, mini kitchen and a big bed up in teh attic. First thing is to strip off and wash everything we have been wearing, as the sun is still strong and it’s only 3.30pm. Ian strings up our super strength clothjes line between a hand rail and bolt giving us about 3 metres of clothes line to hang socks, shirts, undies and shorts. Then it’s time to shower and sort photos while sipping a win/beer.
At 5pm, time for dinner, and we shred the meat, lettuce, tomato and capsicum on a wrap slathered with mayonnaise, then put it in the microwave for twenty seconds. Yum - I have one wrap, Ian likes them so much he has three. All with a beer and wine. It’s turned quite cool tonight, and the temperature has dropped very quickly to 10°C so we’re sitting in front of a little heater wrapped in a rug. Our washing isn’t quite dry but it will be by morning in the low humidity air.
We’re fine tuning our walk tomorrow from Watcombe/Torquay to Exmouth as part of the SWCP along the sea wall near Dawlish is closed for repairs. The plan was to walk the first 10k to Teignmouth then take the spectacular train ride from Teignmouth through Dawlish to Star Cross, then get the ferry to Exmouth. We need to be in Exmouth before 4pm when the sports store Mountain Warehouse closes, as we have asked them back in Looe to put aside a gas cannister for our jetboil.
Plan in place, it’s time for a hot chocolate, and bed upstairs in the attic at 8.30pm. It’s a warm night in our cosy garage and we have to pull the cover from the thick doona and just lie under the cotton cover.