DAY 34

Sunday June 26^th 2016                                                             

Thurlestone to Exmouth                                                                         Miles 116

Today was my last day.  When I arrived back at Exmouth I had driven the whole coast of mainland Britain (plus some islands) and covered a distance of around 5100 miles.

We allowed ourselves the luxury of a good English breakfast and a late start and set off at 9.00am.  We firstly went down into the village of Thurlestone to look at the ocean, that we had been assured by the name of our B&B that we should have been able to see from our room!  In the center of the Bay is a distinctive large rock arch, though to me it looked more like one stack of rocks had fallen over onto another one.  It is called the “thirled stone” which is what gives the village its name.

 

Thirlestone

We drove through the lanes to Galmpton and then into Hope Cove, which has both an inner and an outer beach.  I remember this area from when I came here with my parents aged 7 years old for a holiday.  We stayed in a caravan just a few miles away at Salcombe.  

Hope Cove

During the flight of the Spanish Armada one of the ships was wrecked here on the beach.  The residents at that time were mainly into smuggling, which was not at all the romantic image portrayed by seaside towns and publicans today.  They were quite violent men and the 140 survivors were lucky not to have been killed on the beach, although perhaps the large number of Spaniards might have stayed the hand of the Hope Cove residents.  However, all of them were taken prisoner and later sentenced to death; but this was stayed and eventually they were returned to Spain on payment of a large ransom.

 

Bilberry Down

We then drove up onto Bolberry Down where there are large communications aerials and lots of rabbits.  The views from up here were spectacular right along the coast and out to sea.  Here you can walk in one direction to Bolt Head and in the other direction to Bolt Tail. 

We then drove down into Soar Cove.  We firstly looked at the Soar Cove Hotel who were that afternoon going to be holding a “Gin and Jazz” festival in the grounds.  We very much wished that we could have had the time to stay for this as we both like gin and jazz!  The Cove itself is a small sandy beach, which can only be reached by foot.

 

Salcombe

Salcombe, our next destination is a famous yachting town and is now said to be the most expensive town in England in which to buy property as “out of towners” snap up almost anything that comes onto the market.  Salcombe estuary is like Falmouth in that it is a Ria, or drowned river valley, so it does not dry out. 

 

Water Tractor Taxi

We drove into Salcombe via Coombe, South Sands and North Sands.  It was at North Sands that I came as a child and the beach still looks very much the same.  It was here that I discovered that my Mickey Mouse wrist watch was not waterproof!  At that time you had to walk the mile into Salcombe town, today, if you want to, you can take a water “tractor”.

Salcombe still has a small fishing industry based on shell fish harvesting, but no traditional fishing boats are now based here.  Almost every vessel is a pleasure craft.  Just before the mouth of the estuary is a sand bar and it is said that this is what inspired Alfred Lord Tennyson to write his famous poem “Crossing the Bar”.  It starts: Sunset and evening Star and one clear call for me!  And may there be no moaning of the bar, when I put out to sea.

 

Seagull chick

We drove into the town, again very restricted as to where you can drive and park.  We found a small side street by the water and stopped to buy a coffee.  There was a small jetty and I noticed something moving on it, which turned out to be a fledgling seagull that had fallen out of its nest.   I spied the nest up on a nearby roof and his/her brother/sister still up there.  There were a number of gulls flying around and we assumed that one was the mother of the chick.  Marilyn went into the coffee shop (on whose roof was the nest) to let them know and see if they could help.  The lady came out and said that this chick had actually fallen out almost a week ago and at that time could not even walk.  She had put it on a sack by the house, expecting it to die, but the parents obviously had been continuing to feed it and it was still alive and now walking.  Clearly the best thing to do was to leave it to nature.

 

Salcombe Guard Dog!

Notable residents of Salcombe are the singer Kate Bush and Mary Berry the star of the great British Bake Off, who has a holiday home here.

 

Salcombe from East Portsmouth

Across from Salcombe is the small hamlet of East Portlemouth, linked to Salcombe by a foot ferry.  We decided to visit it as, when I came to a boy’s camp here when I was 14 years old, I remember being buried in the sand on East Portlemouth Beach!  The journey again was complicated in that we had to drive all the way up to Kingsbridge at the top of the estuary, before driving down the other side, a distance of about 15 miles.  Kingsbridge is not strictly a coastal town, but I have to mention how charming it is.  It is clean and smart and the river full of lots of moored small craft.  It reminded me somewhat of Henley-On-Thames, near where I used to live, in the way in which the water and the boats beautified the town.

Once on the other side of the estuary the roads were once again single track and as we entered East Portlemouth they were not much wider than the wing mirrors on the car.  We drove down to the car park, which was as far as the road went.  Indeed once committed to driving down the road you would have to go all the way to the bottom as it would be virtually impossible to turn around.  At the top of the road it had said parking charge was £7.50, which probably put off a lot of people.  What it did not say was that it was a National Trust car park and now being members (courtesy of the Scottish National Trust) we would not have to pay.  When we got there we were met by a very friendly lady acting as the volunteer parking attendant.  She allowed us to stop and take a photo and not park and gave us good advice as to where to go to our next destination. 

We turned around and set off back up the lane.  This time we met a vehicle coming the other way and as luck would have it, right by the entrance to a house so I could edge mostly off the road.  The vehicle was a Tesco delivery van!  As the van squeezed past, I had my window open and his was open also.  I commented to the driver that I bet that most of his deliveries were to houses that lived in very small lanes.  He laughed and said that it was not most houses it was all of them!

 

Start Point

I thought that this might just about be it for narrow lanes.  I was wrong.  We had to go to Start Point and the lighthouse, as this was a distinctive coastal feature.  We traveled for one and a half miles and got almost to the car park before meeting another vehicle.  This driver opted to reverse back, a good 400 yards to find somewhere for me to pass.  When we got to the car park I was surprised at just how many cars were there.  All had braved the road. 

Having taken the obligatory photograph we turned around and started back.  This was when we met not one, not two, but 4 cars all coming towards us and wanting to get into the car park. For a moment it was stalemate as to who should move as I had 2 cars also behind me.  One of the 4 cars ahead of me reversed a little so that I could squeeze into the soft hedge, but the cars behind me all had to reverse back into the car park. With my mirrors folded I sat still while the four vehicles inched past me with no more than an inch between us as well.  Once past I set off again, knowing that it was one and a quarter miles to the next slightly wider road and praying that I would not meet anyone else coming in.  Fortunately I didn’t.  Whatever happened with the other cars coming out that had been behind me I don’t know. 

At the next cross roads and based on what the car park lady at East Portlemouth had advised, we turned right.  A good decision!  Straight  over at the crossroads, on the road we might have taken, we could see a stationary car towing a caravan facing another stationary car towing a caravan that was traveling in the other direction.   There was no way either could reverse.  I expect that they are both still there now.  Just as well they are able to sleep in the caravans!

 

Slapton Sands

Through the lanes we eventually came to Beesands on the coast and this took us directly into Torcross.  Torcross is an interesting place.  It is at the end of a two mile long beach. The road runs right beside the beach while on the other side of the road, the inland side and separated only by the road, is a large expanse of fresh water, known as Slapton Ley.  This area is protected and unique for its bird life.

 

Slapton Ley on Left, Ocean on Right

Torcross is now noted for a double tragedy that occurred during World War II.  In late 1943 the whole area around Torcross was evacuated, people being told to leave their homes by the army.  Indeed they were unable to return for almost 2 years.  Torcross became a training ground for the D-Day Landings as the topography of its beach was thought to be similar to Utah beach in Normandy.  On April 27^th 1944 as part of a continuing series of exercises, known as Operation Tiger, taking place over a 9 day period, troops were to be landed on the beach under fire, but not to advance beyond a certain point until a specified time.  Due to the wrong communication channels having been given to landing craft that were to storm the beaches, shelling of the beaches by warships happened at a time when troops had already moved into the shelling area.  At least 300 servicemen on the beach were killed by friendly fire. 

On the following day, in the evening of April 28^th the second tragedy occurred.  A night exercise was planned and a convoy of vessels, three miles long, set out to sail from Portland to Slapton.  Nine German fast attack E boats, alerted by the heavy radio traffic, came into the convoy and sunk two tank landing ships with the loss of 946 American servicemen.

At the time both of these incidents were hushed up for fear that it might give away to the enemy that a beach landing invasion was being planned.  After the war though it continued to be kept secret and it was only much later that the facts came out and an investigation took place. 

Operation Tiger Memorial

Today at Slapton, due to the persistence of one man, a tank was salvaged from one of the sunken tank landing ships and is now on display as a memorial to all of the men lost during the tragedy of Operation Tiger.  Even today the number of men who died in these two events is still not accurately known.  The tank monument states that 749 men died on the ships, whereas another account says the number is 946.  Together the number of men killed in these two events was greater than the number of men who were killed in the landings on Utah Beach, which saw the heaviest of all of the invasion casualties.  The names of those killed in Operation Tiger were added to the list of those killed on Utah Beach.

From Slapton Sands we drove along the coast road driving up the hill to Strete and then past Blackpool Sands.  Last Christmas we went as a family on Boxing Day onto the beach here and had mince pies and champagne! 

Stoke Fleming is the village above Blackpool Sands and I also came here as a child to a Boy’s Camp and still remember today how much fun it was.  I also remember, on a walk from Stoke Fleming to Slapton Sands, a boy with a transistor radio announcing to everyone that he had just heard on the radio that Marilyn Monroe had died.

 

Dartmouth

We entered Dartmouth from the southern end via Warfleet and signs pointing to the Castle.  Now there is not much left of the castle at Dartmouth and it sits on a strategic point where cannon could be turned onto any enemy ships trying to get into the port.  It was paired up with a castle on the opposite bank at Kingswear.  As with other fortifications, such as at Falmouth, a heavy chain joined the castles and was stretched up across the entrance to block the harbour at night. 

 

Dartmouth Castle

During World War II, after the rescue of the British and French troops at Dunkirk, my father, who was in the Royal Artillery, was posted to coastal defence in Dartmouth and was actually based at the castle for some time.  I remember him taking me there and to his surprise found large cannons still lying on the ground outside the castle just where he and others had had to move them to make room for anti-aircraft weapons.  They are no longer there today.

Bay below Castle

Dartmouth is a flourishing, smart and lively, boating town with a strong naval tradition.  It is still the home of the Royal Naval College where junior officers are trained and inducted into the service.  The College was established by Edward III in the 11^th century. The town has a long history as a port and was an embarkation point back in the time of the Crusades in the 12^th century.

 

Dartmouth

My parents actually met in Dartmouth, my Mother being here on a short holiday from the factory she worked in in Cheltenham, where they manufactured aircraft instruments.  She had moved to Cheltenham from the East End of London after the original factory was bombed in the Blitz.   They got married in 1944 as my father knew that he would be going back to France and she would at least get a pension if he was killed.  After the war he joined the factory where my Mother worked and thus I was born in Cheltenham.

Marilyn and I both like Dartmouth and it is a favourite place for us to visit when we can.  You can take an excellent boat trip down the River Dart to Dartmouth from Totnes.  On the way you can stop at Greenways the holiday home of Agatha Christie.  (Greenway was once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh and his half brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert.)  Once in Dartmouth you link to a ferry across to Kingswear, followed by a steam train to Paignton.  In Paignton you then take a bus back to Totnes making a circular tour.  A great day out.

 

Dart Valley Railway

We took the higher of the two chain ferries across to Kingswear.  For the distance travelled this was the most expensive ferry ride at £5.60.

 

Brixham Harbour

From Kingswear we headed across to the coast at Berry head just above the fishing port of Brixham, famous particularly for its crab.  It still has an active fishing fleet and fish from here every day goes out to the top restaurants in the area.  From this point our journey on country lanes was done (hurray!).  It is possible to now drive along the sea front, o good roads, through the seaside towns of Paignton and Torquay almost to Exeter. 

 

Paignton (not my photo)

I recalled also another war time story from my father about when he was stationed in Paignton.  He had been on night duty manning an anti-aircraft gun on the sea front.   In the morning they were stood down and another crew took up the duty.  Each new crew on taking over had to fire a test round with the gun.  The new crew did this, but the shell must have been faulty and it exploded in the gun and all the crew were killed.  It could have been him if they had used just one more shell.

A not too dissimilar thing happened to a cousin of mine, who was killed before I got to know him.  He was flying a Sea Fury off the deck of HMS Glory, an aircraft carrier, in the Yellow Sea, during the Korean War, a few days before Christmas 1952.  When they started patrol they had to fire a burst from the in-wing mounted 20mm machine guns.  He did so and his wing was seen to explode and he crashed into the sea and was killed.  It was suggested that it was caused by old ammunition manufactured in 1943 jamming in the gun.

Paignton is very much a family holiday resort that has seen better days.  It is still lively but it no longer has the glory or the attractiveness that it once had.  On leaving Paignton the houses become more elegant as you get closer into Torquay.  

Torquay (not my photo)

Torquay also, like most UK seaside resorts, experienced a big down turn when cheap overseas flights came along.  It is coming back though.  The older retired and fairly wealthy folk that  populate a lot of Torquay did not disappear (though I imagine they did turn over!) and this kept the town alive.  This is still the case today. However, the town now focuses on long weekend, more upmarket, luxury breaks and business conferences to keep it moving forward.  There is also a very active theatre in Torquay.  Just above the sea front and to the south is the village of Cockington that seems frozen in time with its thatched cottages.

 

Looking out to Thatcher rock from Torquay

The coastal road through the town (and you have to search it out) goes across Daddyhole Plain, a favourite viewing spot for Marilyn’s grandfather.  The road continues right along the cliffs, past large houses with lovely sea views over Thatcher Rock and on into Babbacombe. Here there is a fun funicular railway down to the beach and a wonderful model village.  From Babbacombe it is mainly a direct drive along the coast, with expansive views over the ocean to Shaldon, with its low bridge across the Teign Estuary to Teignmouth.  Shaldon is very narrow if you decide to drive through the village, but it is possible and takes you up to the Ness where there is parking and a tunnel (claimed, as they all are, to have been used by smugglers) down to the beach.

 

Teignmouth (not my photo)

This area again is a place of my family holidays as a child.  Teignmouth still has a pier and sea front with light entertainments. It is popular with seniors and families, but probably not as popular as Paignton for family holidays, though I’m not sure that it really wants to be.  There are no caravan parks in evidence in Teignmouth, whereas Paignton has quite a number, mainly on the Totnes side of the town. The beach here is sandy, sort of.  Its not good “digging” sand such as at Goodrington Beach in Paignton, but it is a nice beach to laze on.

After Teignmouth the road continues along the coast to Dawlish.  The town fronts right onto the main Great Western Railway line which runs between it and the beach.  This all seems in harmony though and certainly train travelers get a magnificent view of both the small town and the ocean.  

Dawlish in the storm (BBC Photo)

In the winter storms of February 2014 the railway line was left hanging in the air when the sea washed away all of the ground beneath it.  This completely cut railway links between London and Penzance and significant efforts were made to reconstruct the sea wall and defences to enable the line to reopen.  This was done by early April; however, there is now consideration of creating a new inland railway route.  Personally I cannot see this happening any time soon.  The impact of taking farmland and homes would create a real outcry and the cost of new bridges over rivers and motorways will probably fall outside of any post European membership budget.  I love traveling on this section of railway and hope that it remains running here for many years to come.

 

Dawlish Warren

Just outside of Dawlish on the north side is Dawlish Warren.  For over 60 years this has been a holiday area and it is populated with hundreds of chalets and static caravans.  I remember coming here on Boxing Days in the early 1970s, with other family members, and racing the go-carts.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that they are still operating.

The Warren itself is an area of extensive sand dunes, covered with lovely yellow and purple flowers and obviously a place people like to walk and run their dogs.  The footpath along the sea wall is well maintained and provides excellent views across the Bay to Exmouth and also my final destination of Orcombe Point.  The estuary of the Exe at Exmouth is rapidly silting up, having now caused the lifeboat to be moved to a new station closer to the ocean.  There is a large sand bar growing up that looks as if it is getting close and closer to joining up Exmouth with Dawlish.  Obviously the flow of the river will prevent a complete joining but it may allow a bridge to be constructed before too long.

 

Orcombe Point from Dawlish Warren

Dawlish Warren is also the end of the Exe River Trail that stretches from Exmouth up one side of the river, crossing over at Countess Weir at Exeter and then following the river on its other bank down to Dawlish.  This is now becoming well used by walker and cyclists, though from experience I would anticipate that some separation system will have to be put in place, or cyclists forced to slow down in some way.  Many of them ride too fast and walkers (especially with small children) are unable to hear them coming up behind until it is too late.

From Dawlish Warren the road continues along the Exe to the little village of Cockwood with its wonderful Anchor Inn pub offering excellent pub grub.  The village has a small boat harbour that dries on low tide.

At this point you rejoin the main rode at Starcross, where you can catch a passenger only ferry across to Exmouth.  The Pub here is called the Atmospheric Railway in remembrance of Brunel’s attempts to have an air driven railway line.  The technology employed by Brunel was not new but he introduced many modifications in an attempt to allow the trains to run faster and carry more loads.  The principle was that a narrow pipe would be laid in the centre of the rail lines, with a slit in the top, into which would fit a valve connected to a piston on the front carriage of the train.  Without the need for coal fired locomotives significant cost savings were thought possible. Leather seals along the pipe slit would allow the train connector to move along the central pipe with the leather flaps opening in front and closing behind, as it moved, to maintain the pressure.  The train would be propelled forward by the pressure created behind the valve and the lack of pressure ahead of it. 

After significant technical issues and introduction of new designs, the first trains began operating in September 1847 and the line was fully functional from Exeter to Newton Abbot by March 1848.  The highest speed recorded by a train was 64mph.  The railway though continued to experience technical problems.  Pipe bores were changed and during the winter the leather froze and became hard thus causing air pressure failures.  Grease used to keep the leather supple and prevent it cracking in dry weather then, so it is said, attracted rats that would eat the leather, again causing air leakage.  In September 1848 the railway company abandoned the atmospheric railway and returned to steam driven locomotives.  It had operated for only a year.

Shortly after Starcross we turned off to follow the sign for Powderham Church.  This is a backroad around Powderham Castle, home to the Earl of Devon.  We were at one time acquaintances of his Aunt, the Lady Elizabeth, who attended our church in Wargrave.  This road eventually joins the main road again, close to Kenton and this leads on to join the A379 at Countess Weir.  After following this road for a mile you turn back down the other bank of the Exe and head for Topsham.

In 1286 the Countess of Devon, apparently anxious over how much trade went through the port at Topsham, decided to make the upper stretch of the River Exe navigable so that ships could come right into the City of Exeter.   A weir and canal system were constructed at her expense and the city then became a major port in its own right.

 

Topsham

Topsham was the original Roman port for Exeter from the first to the fifth century AD.  It became a major trading cotton hub with Holland and a number of Dutch merchants houses are still in evidence today.  These houses were constructed from Dutch bricks that were used as ballast by the vessels coming from Holland to load up with cotton.  This is similar to what occurred in the old city of Quebec where a lot of the buildings are built from Bristol stone, used as ballast by ships coming from England to collect furs and other goods from Canada.  Another Canadian connection with Topsham is through the Franklin expedition, which was lost trying to find the North West Passage around Canada.  One of Franklin’s ships, HMS Terror, was built in Topsham.  HMS Erebus, the other one of Franklin’s lost ships was discovered in 2014 in Canadian arctic waters and the search for HMS Terror is continuing.  Both Erebus and Terror had previously been on a four year expedition to the Antarctic with Captain John Ross before they went to the Arctic with Franklin.  It is known that they became trapped in the ice and eventually were abandoned by their crews.  The crews survived for some time on the rations taken off the ships, however many of them experienced lead poisoning from the lead used to seal the canned foods.

From Topsham the road leads through Lympstone, with its Royal Marine Commandoes training barracks, then Exton and finally into Exmouth.  

Home At Last

I drove the length of Exmouth’s Esplanade in cloudy weather and finally stopped the car at the end, by Orcombe Point.  I had left this same spot just 34 days ago and after a journey of 5068 miles, it felt good to be back home.  I had a real sense of achievement.  I have gained many treasured memories and a real insight into this beautiful and very varied land that is Britain.  All that remains is to now try and make sense of all of the photos and video – and perhaps turn it all into a book!